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tusk:a_loosa_; 

THE ORIGIN OF ITS NAME. 
ITS HISTORY, ETC., 

A PAPER READ BEFORE THE 

ALABAMA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 

BY THOMAS'" MAX WELL, 
JUL.V 1, isro. 



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TUSK^LOOS^, 



THE ORIGIN OF ITS NAME, 



ITS HISTORY, ETC. 






A. T^^T^ER 



READ BEFORE THE 



ALABAMA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 



-- g 1876. :: 

THOMAS MAXWEEir;" 

JULY 1, isre. 

PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE TUSKALOOSA GAZETTE. 



lis: DEX. 

PART FIRST. 

Introductory remarks 3 to 1 

Expedition of DeSoto from Tampa Bay to his cantonment for the winter 

at Anhayea i Tallahassee) -t - 10 

Tidings of gold at Cofaehiqui (Barnwell C. H.). — His march thither. — 

Cannon left on the way 10-12 

Indian Princess and exchange of courtesies. —Eobbing of sepulchres of 

their pearls 13-1(3 

March to Xualla (Clarksville, Ga.)— Kelics of visit seen hy Mr. Hudgins. 16 - 17 
Sojourn at Chiaha (Rome, Ga.) — Pearls extracted from shells in the Coosa 17-18 
Valley Head Fort.— The Cherokees.— Their modern Chief, John Ross, 

and daughters 18-19 

Coo.sa, Tallise, and Tuski»loosa — the latter on the Alabama river in 1.540. 19 - 21 
The Cacique Tuskaloosa in state. -Three days march to Mauville (Mobile) 21 - 24 

Battle of .Mauville.— Self-destruction of the last warrior 24-28 

Cabusto (Erie).— Crossing the Black Warrior and Tombeckbee rivers. — 

Chicaza (Coffeville, Miss.) 28-30 

Fort Ahbamo, on the Yazoo. -The Mis.sissippi. -Death of DeSoto. — Muscozo 30 - 31 
DeSoto viewed as an avaut-courier of civilization.- Speculations on 

modern Tuskaloosa 31 - 3J 

The French on Dauphin Island.- Wyr with the Chickasaws, or Chickazas 33 - 34 
Traditions from Chnla-tarla-Emaltha. - His account of the origin of the 

Semiuoles 34-35 

PART SECOND. 

Modern Tuskaloosa. — A United States Lieutenant sold.— Black Warrior 

Town. — Oce-oche-Motla 37-44 

The two dreams. — Lady prisoner at Black Warrior Town. — Her rescue. — 

First white person in Tuskaloosa 44-48 

Crocket's two visits to Tuskaloosa. — Jones' Valley. — First settlers there 

and at Tuskaloosa 48-53 

Historic facts. — Endowment of the University ot Alabama by the U. S.— 

State acts in relation thereto. -Trustees in default 53 - -57 

Congressional grant to Tuskaloosa. — Longevity. — Hospitality rt-jected, 

but horses impressed 57-59 

Masonic and Odd Fellows Lodges established. — A tribute to Africa 59-61 

Killing Indians upon a false rumor, and an Amazon who would not be 

imj)ressed 61 - 62 

Removal of capitol to Tuskaloosa.— State Bank, etc.— Dr. Guild and the 

panther 63-64 

Removal of Creek Indians through Tuskaloosa. — Removal of the capitol 

from Tuskaloosa.— Value of good hotels. — Log cabin convention. , 65 - 67 

In.sane Hospital. — University of Alabama. — Vandalism ot its destruc- 
tion. — Ladies' Seminaries. — Improvements needed 67-69 

Indian relics. — Mounds at Carthage. — A giant skeleton. — The mound- 
builders 69-73 

Aztec man in stone. — A panther. — Lion couchant. — .\ burial vase. — 

Indian Idol. — Indian graves 73-77 

The Alabama Stone. — How Tuskaloosa became the City ot Oaks 78-82 

The pedagogue. — Eight reasons why Tuskaloosa should be spelled with 

a k. —Other reasons 82-85 

Beautiful Tuskaloosa i.i poemi ". . . 85 - 80 



T U 8 Iv A L O O 8 A . 

The origin of il.s Name^ its History^ etc. 

Ladies and Ghntl]:me\ : 

Till' responsibility of iii>- ap- 
pearing before this audience must rest upon my fellow- 
meml)ers of the Alabama Histoi-ieal Society, who, by 
vote of their body in July last, rcc] nested that f would 
prepare a paper, to be rend at theii- next annual meet- 
ing, on Tuskahosa, the origin of it'^ name, its history, etc. 

The theme furnished is one whicli I should have se- 
lecied had it been left to rny choice, as being the one 
most agreeable to my wishes and feelings ; not simply 
because it will be read before a Tuskaloosa audience, 
but because, in discussing it, we shall be compelled to 
open up the avenues of history, within our own boun- 
daries as a State, through centuries that ai( ]>nst, so as 
to awaken in the heart of every citizen of Alabama the 
liveliest emotions of interest in the history of the land 
he inhabits. 

Before entering this inviting field, however, T would 
make one preliminary remark, which seems to be called 
for by the actual status of things, viz : that if there 
should seem to be any novelty in tlie histoiic reminis- 
cences which follow in the reading of this paj)er, it 
should be set down as an evidence of dereliction of duty 
on the part of the liteiary men of our State in daj's that 
are past, who. had they not been utterly engrossed in 
paying couit at the two shrines of Kings Cotton and 
Politics, would have seen to it that every child in Ala- 
liama should have been familiar with the history of his 
country. 

What a (^ontrast exists between ourselves in this re- 
spect and the people of the New England States, where 
• 'vei'v child is taught (rom his cradle that he must go 



4 'J'usJialoosi/^ 

jiiiTiunlly (ill itiea at least) on a pilgrimage to the blar- 
ney-stone of PlNinontli Rock, and lick it, in order to im- 
bibe new and iVesli historic inspiration al»ont Ibe greul- 
iiess and glor}- of liis forefathers ! 

Without wishing to detract in the least degree from 
iho importance of that event to mankind at large, and 
admitting that the landing of tbe Pilgrims was a great 
event, having its place in the history of the early settle- 
ment of North Ameri(^a by the whites, I must be per- 
mitted to say that, in ])oint of time, their landing must 
occup}^ a subordinate place on the score of antiquity, 
when <"ompared with other great events which took 
])lace within a few miles of where we now stand — 
events anterior by nearlj' a century of time ; for when 
the Pilgi'ims were first planting their Puritan feet on 
ihe now almost idolized rock, white men of the Cavalier 
stock might consistently have been preparing to cele- 
brate tlit'ir first centeiuiial in the great pro^■ince of Tus- 
kaloosa. 

With these preliminary remarks, indicating what may 
be the general scope of this paper, we will proceed to 
discover what connection they have with the subject 
given us for discussion, viz : Tuska/oosa, tin origin of Its 
name, its history, etc. With this intent, we will take a 
Ijiief review of the wonderful expedition of Hernando 
DeSoto, through the wilderness of Georgia, Floi-ida and 
Alabama, in 1539 and '40, viewed as an entering wedge, 
or preparatory step in the Sonth-West, to reduce this 
immense territory' to the uses of our pi'esent civilization. 

EXPEDITION OF DE SOTO. 

For the facts and dates introduced, 1 am indebted to 
'X Portuguese gentleman who accompanied DeSoto 
ihronghout his iMitirt* ex])cdition. The work was first 
issued in 1-557, aiul the lirst Fnglisli edition was pu))- 
lished l»y Hackluyt in 1 G09. Also lo a Spanish work 
by the Fnca Garcilasco de la Vega, published in 1 605, 
which the author wrote down from the lips of three cav- 
aliers, of woi'th aiid respectability, who accompanied T)e 



The Ori^lu of Uk Name, 11.9 Ilistorif, etc. 5 

Soto, translated by Theodore Irving in 1835 ; and, also, 
to a third work, by Luis Hei'nandez de Riedma, another 
Spaniai'd who accompanied DeSoto. Mr. Irving having 
(.'ai'i'Ttilly compared the Spanish and Portuguese authors, 
and where slight diflei-ences seemed to exist having 
brought them into hai-mony when practicable, I have 
mainly relied on his authority. For other collateral in- 
formation, I am indebted to the letters of Ckula-tarla- 
E7nallha, or Gen. Thomas 8. W^oodward, an authority 
of partially Indian extraction, and to the sketches of 
our distinguished poet and scholai-. Alexander B. Meek, 
and to the Life of Col. David Crocket, as written by 
himself, and also to the Rev. H. F. Buckner, missionary 
in the Creek Nation, Indian Territory, and author of 
the Maskoke, or Creek Grammar, ))ublislied in 1860. 

In his opening chapter on the Conquest of Florida, 
Theodore Irving appropriately says: "Never was the 
spirit of w^ild adventure more universally diffused than 
at the dawn of the 16th century. The wondrous dis- 
coveries of Columbus and his hardy companions and 
followers — the descriptions of the beautiful isles of the 
West — and the tales of unexplored regions — of wealth 
locked up in unbounded wildernesses — had an effect 
upon the imaginations of the young and adventurous 
not unlike the preaching of the chivalric crusades for 
the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre. The gallant knight, 
the servile retainer, the soldier of fortune, the hooded 
friar, the painstaking mechanic, the toilful husbandman, 
the low profligate, and the hardy mariner — all were 
touched with the pervading passion, all left home, 
country, friends, wives, children, loves, to seek some 
imaginary Eldorado, confidently expecting to return 
with countless treasure. 

Of all the enterprises undertaken in this spirit of dar- 
ing adventiire, none has surpassed for hardihood and 
variety of incident, that of the renowned Hernando de 
Soto and his band of Cavaliers. It was poetry put in 
action: it was knight-ei-rnntry of the Old World carried 



6 Tdshdloosd, 

into llie (lopth of tlie Amerii.-aii wildci'iioss. IiuUhmI 
the personal adventui-es, the leats onndividual prowess, 
the piotiirosque descriptions of steol-ehid CavaHors, witli 
lance and helm and prancing steed, glittering through 
the wilderness of Florida, Georgia, and Alabama, and 
the prairies of the far west would be to us mere fi(;tions 
of romance, did they not come to us recorded in matter 
of fact narratives of contemporaries, and corroborated 
i)y minute and daily memoranda of eye-witnesses. 

Those conversant with the history of the Spanish dis- 
coveries, will remember tiie r^nmericnl cruise of the 
brave old governor of Porto llico. Ponce de Leon, in 
scai'ch of the Foimtain of Youth. This fabled fouu- 
uiin, according to Indian tradition, existed in one of 
the Bahama Lshmds. Ponce de Leon sought for it in 
yain ; but, in the course of his cruisings, he discovei-ed 
a country of vast and unknown extent, and from the 
abundance of flowers along its coast, and its being (irst 
seen on I'alin Sunday (Pascna Florida) he named it 
Florida, or the land of flowers. Obtaining permission 
frcmi the Spanish government to subjugate and govern 
the country, in the year 1-512 he made a second voyage 
to its shores, but in a conflict with the natives, he was 
mortally wounded, and his exjjedition was a failure. — 
Sevei'al other expeditions wei-e fitted out, who landed 
at different points, but because of their barbarous treat- 
ment of the natives they were all ecjually unsuccessful. 
One vmder Pamphilo de Xarvaes was of considerable 
proportions, consisting of four hundred men and fori} - 
live horses, who hmded April 12. lo28, but, after in- 
credible hardships, this al.<;o was destroyed, and only 
live survivei's made lh(Mr wny across the country to 
Mexico. 

LAXniNG .\T TAMFA HAY. 

On Muy 2.")th, I");];*, the largest and be.st ajtpointcd 
cxpediiion ni'rived on the coast of l''loi'i(!a, opposite 
Tain]>a Rav. nmler comnuuid of riernando de Soto. — 
Accordinii to Giircilaso de la Vega, this expiMlition con- 



77/ <" Oi'i^hi of Us X((in(\ ifs His-forf/, etc. 7 

Slated of one huutired men and three hundred and fifty 
horses. The Portuguese author and Biedma both place 
the numbers at nb(mt one-third less. They had scarce- 
ly arrived in view oi' the coast, when fire signals ap- 
peared all along the coast, showing that the natives had 
taken the alarm, and were summoning their warriors to 
assemble. Several days were required to sound the 
harV>or, and great caution w.is used about landing. At 
length, on May 3.1st, a detnchment of BOO men were 
landed, and took formal posses.'^ion in the name of 
Charles V. of Spain. Not a single Indian was in sight, 
and the troops remnined all night on shore in careless 
security. Towards dawn, however, an immense num- 
ber of ravages broke upon them with deafenii.g yells. 
and in panic the Spaninrds retreated to the edge of the 
sea. After a furious charge <^f the cavalry, however, 
the Indians lied. 

Next da}^ the remainder of the troo])s were disem- 
barked, and the Spaniards took possession of the first 
deserted village they had seen. The houses were built 
of wood, and thatched with palm leaves. At one end 
of the village stood a temple, with the image of a bird 
on top. made of wood, with gilded eyes. Within the 
temple were foimd strings of pearls, of small value, 
however, being injured by tire, in boring them for neck- 
laces and bracelets. 

DI.S( OVERY OF .TL'.AN ORTIZ, IN FLORIDA, THE ONLY SLRVIVOH 
OF THE NARVaE.S EXPEDITION. 

DeSoto at length succeded in capturing a few stiag- 
gling Indians, from whom he learned that the Narvaes 
expedition had been there, and had treated the natives 
with the grossest barbaiity, and that there was one man 
Ijelonging to the Xarvaes expedition still living in the 
country, ..under the protection of a neighboring chief 
named Mucozo, and whose life had been spared by the 
principal chief, Binihigua, at the intercession of his 
daughter, yet, notwithstanding this act of grace to his 
daughter's importunity, llirrihigua, burning with resent- 



3 TufilaloofiiU " , 

meiit :it the I'oiidnct of lhe men who had been with 
Narvaes, woiihl jieniiit no intereourse between hi;? peo- 
ple and DeSoto. 

It was all inn)ortant that DeSoto sliould, by some 
means, secure the services of this white man. who had 
been twelve yeai\s in the country, in oi'der to have him 
act as interpreter in his future intercourse with the In- 
dians, and means were found at last to open communi- 
cation with Mucozo, the result of which was, that Juan 
Ortiz, the sou of a noble family in Seville, was redeem- 
ed^ and became attached to DeSoto's expedition and 
fortunes as interpreter, after he had been twelve years 
in servitude, as the last surviving membei- in I'Morida of 
the unfortunate Narvaes expedition. 

DeSoto now learned how barbarously Narvaes and his 
men had treated Hii-rihigua. That after being hospitablv 
re(?eived by the chief and his family, for some unknown 
reason he had ordered the chief's nose to be cut otT. ami 
his mother to be torn to pieces by dogs. Of course, it 
is no wonder, that when Hii'rihigua found another inva- 
sion of the sanu^ Christian race upon his shores, he 
should repel every effort of DeSoto at reconciliation 
with a scorn which demanded no intercourse but that of 
war with extermination for its basis, and this policy he 
succeeded in inducing all the neighboi-ing chiefs to adopt, 
except Mucozo, with w'hom DeSoto was on amicable 
terms by reason of his kindness in proteeting Juan 
Ortiz from sacrifice duiing his twelve years' captivity, 
so that, at every step, as he advanced into the interior 
of the country, he was met by the most determined re- 
sistance and opposition, not (mly by Hirrihigua, but In' 
the allied chiefs of the ailjoining provinces of Urribar- 
racaxi, Aciiera. Ocali. N'itachuco, Osachile and of An- 
hayea, the latter being the principal towif of the great 
province of Apa]ac}ie(\ 

It wdll of (M)urse be impossible within the limits of 
this paper to give anything like a nanativo in detail, of 
the wondei-ful journey of DeSoto through this hostile 



I 

> _ 

Tlte Orii/iit of its Xffme, /V.v llidori/^ etc. 9 

region, wliere every river, swamp and morass, from 
Tam[)aBay to Anhayea. (the latter is believed to have 
been about the present sile of Tallahassee) afforded a 
never ending means of attack and defense to the In- 
dians, and the Spaniards met with the same difficulties 
that 300 years later fell to the lot of the United States 
army, in dealing with the Indians in the everglades of 
Florida. Suffice it to say that never in the history of 
knight-errantry, not even by the redoubted Don Quix- 
ote himself, was there such a display of reckless bravery 
as for six mf)nths was the daily life of this wonderful 
ex|)edition. 

CANTON^f^;NT foi; wixtrr at anoavfa. 
As Aniiayea contained 250 large and commodious 
houses, r)ts'^')to determined to pass the winter there, the 
Indians having deserted it on the ajjproach of the Span- 
iards, and while there he sent thirty lances, well mount- 
ed, back to Hiri'ihigua, oi'dering that the garrison at that 
point be broken up and abandoned, and its forces to fol- 
low immediately and join his encampmCiit at Anhayea ; 
and with marvellous intrepidity these lances ])erfoi'med 
their mission, and the garrison of 120 men fought their 
way over the same ground, though utterly decimated 
and exhausted by conflicts with the savages, on their ai'- 
rival. From this place also he dispatched an expedition 
of 40 horse and 50 foot, under Juan de Anasco, in search 
of the ocean which was said to be less than thirty 
leagues distant from Anhayea, and this expedition was 
also successful, and returned, having discovered the 
spacious -Bay of St. Marks, or Apalachee, and t'onnd 
means of establishing signals for his fleet. On receipt 
ol this information, he dispatched another competent of- 
ficer to the L'oast. who surveyed its windings for 70 
leagues, and discovered the beautiful harbor of Achusi, 
or the present Bay of Pensa<.'ola, and esiabli.shed com- 
munication also with (.'uFia. DeSoto was not allowed to 
rest in his winter quail crs at Anhayea. but he and his 
army were kept constantly on the aleii. both day and 



10 '1\(-ih'(tf<ii>s(r, 

liig'lit, t'(M' live iiionilis.t^toniiil vigilant'e UciiJ,ii' required T(a 
keep hi.s forees tVom Ijeino decimated hy the Indians, who 
never nii.sse<l an opportunity to take advantage of any 
want of caution. The Apalachiaus were a race of large 
stature, and annizin^- vio-or of arm and intre])idity of 
-Spirit ; and if small parties of Spaniards repaii'ed to the 
forest to cut wood^ the sound of their axes was the sig- 
nal for a host of eon(-ealed savages lo suri-ound and slay 
I hem, break of[' the chains of the Indian prisoners who 
had been brought to carry wood for fuel, and bear off 
the scalps of the slain as trophies. In going out foi-ag- 
ing for maize, the same result was of frequent occur- 
rence. Such was the fertility of the j)rovin('*e of Apa- 
lachee. howev^ei', and tlie quantity of maize, beans, 
pumpkins, and other grain and fruits, so abundant, 
that there was no need of foraging more than a league 
and a lialf around the encampment or town, which was 
well fortified, to obtain food in abundance for loOu 
])ersoiis. including Indians, and above SOO horses. 

TlniNdS OF A (iOhl> KEaioN — \rAR(;H TO COFACHlQin. 

During the winter DeSoto made diligent enquiries 
about the interior of the <N>untry so as to regulate his 
march in the spi-ing. During these enquiries two In- 
dian lads were brought to hrn). about sixteen years of 
age, natives of distant proviiices, wlui had traveled with 
Indian tradei-s. They offered to guide him to those 
})rovinces : and one in particular spoke of a remote 
province towards the east, called Oofachiqui, goveriied 
by a female cacique, whose town wa« of great size, and 
who received tribute fi-om all her neighbors. The 
Spaniards showed him jewels of gold, pieces of silver, 
and lings set with pearls nnd precious stones, and ask- 
ed if any of these were in Cofachiqui. ffe gave them 
no doubt a vague and blundering I'.'ply. which thev in- 
terpreted according to their wishes. They undei'stood 
him that the chief traffic in that province was in these 
yeliow and white metals, ami that pearls were to be 



The Origin of Us Name^ its History^ etc. 11 

found in abundance. It was, therefore, determined that 
the army should march in search of Cofachiqui. 

Accordingly, in the month of March (1540) DeSoto 
broke up his winter cantonment, and proceeded to 
the North-east. Being apprised that they must travel 
many leagues through an unpeopled wilderness, the meiji 
were ordered to provide themselves with provisions. — 
The Indians they had captured and made servants, be- 
ing exposed naked, and in irons, during the severe cold 
weather, had nearly all perished, so that each soldier 
would be obliged to carry his supply on his back. 

After a toilsome march, they arrived on the third day 
at a small village called Capachiqui. It was surrounded 
by a miry marsh, more than a hundred paces broad, 
traversed in various directions by wooden bridges. The 
village itself was on high ground, and commanded an 
extensive view over a beautiful valley sprinkled with 
small hamlets. Here the troops remained quartered for 
three days. 

About noon on the second day, seven soldiers sallied 
forth without orders, in a heedless manner, merely to 
amuse themselves by taking a look at the neighboring 
hamlets. They had crossed the bog, and a strip of 
thicket about twenty paces wide, beyond which was an 
open country with corn fields. When scarcely advanced 
two hundred paces, the ever watchful Indians sprang 
from their lurking places, and six of them were trans- 
fixed each with ten or a dozen arrows, before any help 
could reach them; but one who survived declared that 
although there were fifty warriors in sight, all but seven 
(their own number) stood aside disdaining to take ad- 
vantage of their inequality, such instances of magnanim- 
ity being common among the Apalachee Indians, who 
considered themselves the equals of the Spaniards man 
for man, when the latter were not mounted upon horses 
and clad in mail. 

Leaving this village, in two days they crossed the 
frontier of Apalachee aud entered the province of Ata- 



12 Tushaloosa . 

paha, and on the third day came in sight of the village 
of Achese. The Indians fled to the forests with their 
wives, children and effects. The horsemen, dashing into 
the village, made six prisoners, two of whom were war- 
riors that had remained behind to remove the infirm. — 
They came into DeSoto's presence with a fearless and 
lofty demeanor, and demanded: '*What seek ye in our 
land, peace or war?" DeSoto replied through his inter- 
preter: "We seek not war but peace. We are in search 
of a distant pi-ovince, and all we ask is food by the 
road " The warriors offered at once to supply the wants 
of the army, and sent two of their number to the Caci- 
que to inform him of the peaceful arrangement, and De- 
8oto ordered the others to be at once set free, whom he 
treated and regaled as friends. 

After reposing three days, the army resumed its 
march northeast, ascending for ten days the banks of a 
river, skirted by groves of mulberry trees, and winding- 
through luxuriantly fertile valleys, which is supposed to 
have been Flint River, and these Indians never broke 
the peace thus established. 

DE SOTO'S CANNON LEFT WITH THE CACIQUE OF COFA. 

On the eleventh day they crossed the boundaries of 
Atapaha, and entered the province of Cofa. The Caci- 
que of Cofa received the Spaniards with a generous 
welcome, giving up his own mansion to DeSoto and 
providing quarters for the army. The province over 
which he ruled was very fertile, plentiful, and populous. 
The natives were peaceful and domestic in their habits, 
and extremely affable. Tiiey treated the army with 
much kindness, and detained them five days with their 
hospitality. DeSoto had brought with him thus far a 
piece of ordnance, but linding it bui-fhensome to carry 
through the wilderness, and of but little use, he deter- 
mined to leave it with Ihe Cacique of Coh until he 
should return or send foi" it, and to show its power he 
had it loaded and fired at a tree, and in two shots the 
tree was laid prostrate, to the amazement of the Caci- 



The Origin of its Name, its History, etc. 13 

que and his subjects. The Cacique and his Warriors 
were deeply impressed with this mark of confidence, 
and promised that it should be guarded with vigilant 
care. 

UNEXPECTED AND LIVING TESTIMONY IN TUSKALOOSA THAT 
SUCH A CANNON WAS LEFT BY DE SOTO. 

That such a piece of ordnance was left in the country 
by DeSoto, I am able to establish by the testimony of 
Gen. T. S. Woodward, in his letters and reminiscences 
(pp. 14, 23 and 111), who says that the Tuckabatachee 
Indians have now (1858) in their possession a number 
of copper plates in various shapes, which their tradi- 
tions say were used by DeSoto's men as a kind of shield 
to protect them>3elves from the arrows of the Indians, 
and that he himself has seen pieces of this small can- 
non, which was left by DeSoto, before it was melted 
and worked into bells for the neighbors by a black- 
smith named Tooley, at the Indian settlement of Thlea 
Walla, or RolHng Bullet, where a battle was fought with 
DeSoto, and which was named Thlea Walla from a spent 
bullet rolling on the ground from one of the Spanish 
guns. 

In addition to the above I am more than gratified in 
being able to produce in our own city a living witness, 
as to the leaving of this cannon in 1540 by DeSoto, and 
of its being found and seen in 1845 by our esteemed 
fellow-citizen Mr. T. L. Hudgins, before it was worked 
up into bells by the blacksmith Tooley. Mr. Hudgins 
told me to-day that in 1845 he saw this cannon after it 
had been bursted by firing it off near Rockford, in Coosa 
county. It was found between tlie mouth of Hatchet 
Creek and Wetumpka (or sounding water) on the Coosa 
river. He describes it as being of brass, about four and 
a half feet long, and four inches in the bore; so that we 
have two witnesses, one of them living and known to all 
of this audience, of such a cannon having been left in 
the country by DeSoto, and of its being found nearly 
three hundred years after the event. 



1 4 TufiJialoofia, 

After resting five days in Cofa, on the sixth day the 
army resumed their march in quest of the adjoining 
province of Cofaqui, whose Cacique was an elder broth- 
er of Cofa's, and was much more opulent and powerful. 
The Cacique took an affectionate leave of the Spaniards, 
and ordered his people to accompany the strangers, and 
do all in their power to serve them. At the same time 
he directed a chief to go before, and warn his brother 
Cofaqui of the approach of the Spaniards, and beseech 
him to receive them kindly. Their march was through 
a luxuriant country, fertilized by many rivers, inhabited 
by a more docile race than any yet seen. At the end 
of six days, he bade adieu to the territory of Cofa. 

Cofaqui met DeSoto on the confines of his territory, 
with a retinue of warriors, richly decorated, carrying 
their bows and arrows in their hands, with tall plumes 
upon their heads, and over their shoulders rich martin 
skins, finely dressed. The Cacique conducted DeSoto 
to his own house, and retired to a neighboring hamlet. 
Early next morning he visited DeSoto, and imparted all 
the information he could of his territory, and spoke of 
a plentiful province, called Cosa. pvhich lay to the north- 
west. As to the province of Cofachiqui, he said it lay 
contiguous to his dominions, but that a vast wilderness 
of seven days' journey intervened. If, however, DeSoto 
was bent upon going to Cofachiqui, he offered to render 
every assistance in his power; and DeSoto was astonish- 
ed to find four thousand warriors were furnished as an 
escort and uuide. and four thousand retainers to carry 
their baggage. The mystery was explained just before 
starting, when DeSoto found tlmt this large force was in- 
tended to accompany him for (lie purpose of war against 
the province of Cofachiqui. against whom Cofaqui had 
an ancient feud. After incredible hardships suffered in 
attempting a passage through the wilderness, and part- 
ing with the Indians who had been their escort thus far. 
the Spaniards arrived at Cofachiqui, on the banks of a 
beautiful riycr (sn|tposed to he abont tho present site of 



The Origin of its iS^ame, its History^ etc. 15 

Barnwell Court-House, on the borders of South Caro- 
lina). 

Here DeSoto was met in a friendly spirit by the then 
l^ ruler of the province, an Indian Princess of great digni- 
ty and grace. She crossed the river in a grand canoe 
containing six ambassadors, herself under a canopy sup- 
ported by a lance, reclining on cushions in the stern. — 
On landing and being seated in state, she made obei- 
sance to DeSoto, and told him her land had recently 
been ravaged by pestilence, but that she would share 
with the strangers the maize which had been collected 
for the village, and would put them in the way of get- 
ting similar supplies from other villages. She then 
took from her neck a string of large pearls, which en- 
circled it three times and descended to her waist, and 
placed it about the neck of DeSoto, as an earnest of 
the kind intentions of her people. DeSoto, in token of 
a mutual compact, took from his finger a ring of gold 
set with a ruby, and presented it, which she placed upon 
her finger and retired, telling him that on the morrow a 
fleet of canoes should conduct his army across the river, 
all of which was faithfully done on the following day. — 
/ The yellow metal for which such sacrifices had been 
made in reaching Cofachiqui, turned out to be only a 
species of copper, and the white metal, supposed to be 
silver, turned out to be only a species of quartz, or 
probably mica ; and thus vanished in disappointment 
^the golden treasures of Cofachiqui. As a compensa- 
tion, however, as several towns had been depopulated 
by pestilence, and the custom had been to bury their 
dead with all their jewels in the tomb, by robbing the 
sepulchres of these towns and of Cofachiqui itself, it is 
said they found 400 pounds of pearls. The people at 
Cofachiqui were better clothed and housed than any In- 
dians they had yet seen, and were hospitable and gener- 
ous, and it is lamentable to relate, that notwithstanding 
all this. DeSoto, on leaving the place, carried away the 
princess captive to the confines of her territory, near 
Xualla. whore, beconiino- alarmed lest slie should be 



1 6 TmkaJoosiu 

taken beyond her own dominions, slie stealthily alighted 
I'rom her litter, and fled through the depths of the forest, 
successfully eluding pursuit. While at Cofachiqui the 
Spaniards found a dagger and several coats of mail of 
European workmanship, hi one of their temples which 
was 100 paces in length and 40 in breadth, where was 
also stored away statues of wood carved with consider- 
able skill, and an immense profusion of conchs, and dif- 
ferent kinds of sea and river shells. On being ques- 
tioned, it was evident that the European relics had been 
obtained from the unfortunate Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon 
and his ill-fated followers, and had been transported 
Ironi the coast about the mouth of Savannah river, or 
St. Flelena, by the savages as trophies to Cofachiqui. 

TERRITORY OF THE CHEROKEES. 

On the third of May, 1540, DeSoto set forward again, 
and as stated, on leaving took with him the beautiful 
princess of Cofachiqui. His route lay towards the north, 
or north-west, in the direction of the province of Cosa, 
which was said to be about the distance of twelve days' 
journey. After much trouble for want of sufficient food 
for man and beast, they reached the province of Xualla, 
(Clarksville, Ga.) In his march from Cofachiqui, De- 
Soto passed through the province of Achalaque — by the 
Portuguese narrator spelled Chalaque, (without doubt the 
land of our modern Cherokees), and said by him to be 
the most wretched country in all Florida. The inhabi- 
tants were a feeble, peaceful race, and nearly naked. — 
At Xualla no doubt prospecting parties were sent out 
searching for gold, as our friend Mr. Hudgins has seen 
the fbrtilications of earth-work built by the Spaniards 
ten miles from Nacouchee Old Town, in Habersham 
county (which is Xualla. or Clarksville), and also seven 
cabins, built by DeSoto's men underground, containing 
the crucibles, tongs and other ai'ticles used by them in 
extracting gold IVom the earth. 

On leaving Xualla. he had inclined his route to the 
westward, in search of a province called Quaxale, where 



The Origin of its Name, its History, etc. 17 

the territories of the princess, or rather her tributary 
Caciques, ended. For five days they traversed a chain 
of easy mountains. These mountains were twelve 
leagues across and quite uninhabited, and in two days 
more they reached the small town of Canasauga, among 
the rugged spurs of what we know as Lookout Moun- 
tains. Continuing forward for five days, through a des- 
ert country, on the 5th of June they came in sight of 
Ichiaha, or Chiaha (supposed to be the present site of 
Rome, Ga). The village of Chiaha (reported as an island 
in the Coosa 15 miles long) was, according to A. B. 
Meek, but a short distance above the junction of the Coosa 
and Chattooga rivers. Here they found great store of but- 
ter, of bear's fat melted into gourds, and walnut oil and 
honey, all good to the taste, and here DeSoto was ,en- 
camped for several days to rest his horses, during which 
time he made constant enquiries for the precious met- 
als, of which he had heard much at Cofachiqui, 

During the stay of the army of Chiaha, the Cacique 
presented DeSoto with a string of pearls two arms in 
length. The pearls were as large of filberts, and had 
they not been burned by fire would have been of im- 
mense value. They had been extracted from shells 
found in the Coosa river, and to gratify DeSoto's curios- 
ity, the Cacique sent off forty canoes in the night to 
have a .supply next morning, and show him their 
method of obtaining the pearls from the shells. An 
immense quantity of shells were brought by the canoes, 
which, being placed on glowing coals, produced ten or 
twelve pearls in his presence as large as peas, but in- 
jured and discolored by the fire. One, however, was 
found without the aid of fire, wliich was estimated to be 
worth four hundred ducats in Spain. All the authori- 
ties mention that large quantities of pearls were then to 
be found in the country, and it is stated that while at 
Xualla a foot-soldier had filched from the sepulchres six 
pounds, worth six thousand ducats, and which, from sheer 
fatigue afterwards, during the journey from Xualla to Ca- 
nasnuga.he had to throw away in tlie woods. Other sol- 



1 S Tnfdifdooaa, 

diers sought and recovered about thirty of these, which, 
not being bored or injured by fire, wei'e of great value. 
The Portuguese narrator says that fourteen bushels of 
pearls were taken from the sepulchres of Cofachiqui 
alone, aud the details given of extracting them from the 
shells at Chiahn. in DeSoto's presence, would seem to 
indicate that at that day there were great quantities in 
our rivers, that are not foiuid in these latter days. 

FORT NEAR VALLEY HEAD. 

While at Chiaha, DeSoto was informed that there 
were metals of a yellow color to be found about thirty 
miles to the northward, but that the country was so 
broken and mountainous that horsemen could not travel 
through it. Parties were sent out on foot, under Juan 
de Villalabos and Francisco de Silvercs, to traverse the 
region and report. This was among the spurs of Look- 
out, in Cherokee and DeKalb counties, Alabama, along 
the line of the Alabama & Chattanooga Railroad, where, 
near Yalley Head (158 miles from Tuskaloosa by rail) 
I visited a fortification that was evidently the work of 
the Spaniards, on a point of land, part of the broken 
range of Lookout, immediately below the falls of Little 
river, on an eminence 75 feet high, overhanging the 
basin into which the falls are precipitated, and where 
the fort could be supplied with water by dropping a 
bucket from above on one side, unapproachable by an 
enemy, the other side being protected by a breast- work 
of stone, thrown up so as to form a perfect defense. — 
Within the enclosure, and facing the gulf below the 
falls, are two stone caves of natural formation, which, 
doubtless, induced the selection of this spot by the 
Spaniai'ds as a secuie harbor of protection ; and Mr. 
Winston, who lived at Valley Head, told me that but re- 
cently a portion of the point of a sword had been found 
sticking in a fissure of the rock in one of the caves, 
that had evidently been broken otT ages ago. by hang- 
ing something on it, which had caused the breaking of 
the point. To strengthen tho conjecture as to the .Span- 



The Origin of its Name, Us History, etc. 19 

iards having built this fort for protection while prospect- 
ing for gold, Mr. Hudgins says that in 1836 an old 
Spanish dollar was plowed up by Mr. Wm. K. Davis, 
bearing the date 1114^ on the south side of Pigeon 
Mountain, one of the spurs of Lookout, at what is 
' known as McLemore's Cove, which is only a few miles 
from the fort at Y alley Head, having been lost b}^ the 
Spaniards, doubtless, under DeSoto. He had this dol- 
lar in his keeping for many years, and refused to take 
any price for it, but finally lost it, to his great grief 

That the people whom DeSoto met in this region, 
calling themselves Chellakees, were the ancestors of our 
modern Cherokees, hardly admits of a doubt. Some 
of them to-day (like the Northumbrians in England) 
never pronounce the letter "r" but call themselves 
Chellakees, instead of Cherohees ; and there is as little 
doubt that they occupied the country about Vallej^ 
Head. Mr. Brandon, at Brandon's Station, on the Ala- 
bama and Chattanooga Railroad, just 15 miles from Val- 
ley Head, told me last summer, that he had lived there 
for fifty years, and that for the first ten years of the 
time the Cherokees were his neighbors and friends ; 
and, pointing his finger across the valley from where he 
stood, he said : ^'Look there, you can see from the train, 
in that tuft of trees, the identical house of John Ross, the 
Cherokee chief my next neighbor and friend for. years, be- 
fore he removed to Chickamaugay I was really glad to 
have it pointed out to me, especially as it recalled a 
pleasant introduction I had in 1842 to the celebrated 
chieftain, his wife, and two daughters, through the po- 
liteness of Mr. Reves, of Virginia, at the President's 
Mansion in Washington ; but it also recalled one of the 
well-remembered mortifications of my life, when from 
mere bashfulness I permitted President Tyler, who was 
introduced a few minutes later to the young ladies, to 
offer his arm and walk off with both of them, just as 
we were getting into a pleasant conversation ; and I 
have felt ever since, that notwithstanding he was Presi- 
dent of the United States, it was my duty to have offer- 



20 Tuskaloosa, 

ed at least to apply the maxim ot "divide and conquor." 

COOSA, TALLISE AND TUSKALOOSA. 

On July 2nd, 1540 (just 336 years ago to-morrow), 
DeSoto entered Alabama, and arrived at the village of 
Acoste, built on the extreme point of an island. He 
was met by a Cacique with 1500 warriors, decorated 
with war plumes and equipped with arms. By perfidy, 
he succeeded in capturing the Cacique and a number of 
his chief warriors, and holding them as prisoners he 
forced them to accompany him on his journey. For 
twenty-four days the army slowly pursued its course 
through a populous and fertile province called Cosa, 
which embraced the present counties of Benton, Talla- 
dega, Coosa and Tallapoosa The inhabitants were 
friendly and hospitable. On the approach of DeSoto to 
the principle town, called also Cosa, he was met by a 
(^aciqu(i borne in a litter by four servants, and followed 
by a train of one thousand warriors gorgeously array- 
ed, accompanied by several Indians singing and playing 
upon instruments. He was a young man of fine person 
and noble countenance. Upon his head he wore a dia- 
dem of brilliant feathers, and from his shoulders hung 
a mantle of martin skins, decorated with large pearls. — 
This village was situated upon the east bank of a noble 
river, and contained 500 spacious houses. It was well 
stored with provisions, such as maize, pumpkins, beans, 
plums and grapes. This, Mr. McCollough says, was 
Old Coosa, so-called upon the maps, and in latitude 33, 
30. At this point the army passed nearly due east of, 
an^ within 50 or 60 miles of the present city of Tuska- 
loosa. DeSoto remained there until the 20th of Au- 
gust, and then departed, taking the Cacique with him, 
and a large number of his tvarriors to bear his baggage, 
and on leaving they lost a common soldier by desertion, 
and had to leave a negro behind who was sick — the 
first darkey, I suppose, who was ever settled in Alaba- 
ma. They passed through villages called by the natives 
Tallimuchassee, Ullibali, and Toasi. and arrived at a 



The Origin of itfi Name^ its History^ etc. 21 

town called Tallise, on the 18th of September. With- 
out doubt this was Tallassee, in Tallapoosa county, 
where a tribe of Creeks had the same name. At Tallise, 
which was the southern boundary of Coosa, DeSoto was 
met by an ambassador from the Cacique of the neigh- 
boring province, called Tuskaloosa. This is a pure 
Choctaw compound word, according to Meek, from Tus- 
ka (Warrior) and Loosa, or Luza (black), which would 
of course be Warrior Black, but by inversion into Eng- 
lish, Black Warrior ; and here we have the first mention 
in any history of the name Tuskaloosa, as it is, also, the 
first name of any note or prominence that can appear 
in any history of the United States. 

This was the name of the chieftain, as well as of his 
kingdom. He was represented as the most powerful of 
all the Caciques of the country. His fame reached De- 
Soto long before he approached his dominions, which 
included immense regions west and south of Cosa. The 
ambassador was the son of the Cacique, and came at- 
tended by a large train of warriors. He was of noble 
and imposing appearance, taller than any Spaniard or 
Indian in the army, as symmetrical and graceful as Apol- 
lo, and of proud and princely demeanor. His mission 
was one of peace, and he invited DeSoto, in the name 
of his father, to visit his residence — an invitation which 
DeSoto cheerfully accepted. Accordingly he crossed 
the river on rafts, and on the second night his army en- 
camped in the woods, about two leagues from the vil- 
lage in which the Cacique Tuskaloosa was quartered ; 
which, however, was not the capital of his province. — 
At an early hour next morning, accompanied bj' seve- 
ral of his cavaliers, DeSoto set out to meet this powerful 
chieftain, whose territory embraced, not only the coun- 
try through which the river that bears his name mean- 
ders to the gulf, by our doors, but a great part of what 
are now the great States of Alabama and Mississippi. 

THR CACIQUE TUSKALOOSA SEATED IN STATE. 

DeSoto found the Cacique Tuskaloosa prepared to re - 



22 Tushdoosa, 

-ceive him iu .state. He was posted on the crest of a 
hill, which commanded a wide view over a rich and 
beautiful valley. He was seated on a kind of stool, 
made of wood, somewhat concave, but without back or 
arms — such was the simple throne used by the Caciques 
of the coimtry. Around him stood a hundred of his 
principal men, dressed in rich mantles and plumes. Be- 
side him was his standard-bearer, who bore on the end 
of a lance a dressed deer skin, stretched out to the size 
of a buckler. It was of a yellow color, traversed by 
three blue stripes. This was the great banner of this 
warrior chieftain, and the only military standard that 
the Spaniards met with throus^hout the whole of their 
expedition. 

Tuskaloosa, like his son, was of noble appearance 
and gigantic proportions, being a foot and a half taller 
than any of his warriors. He was about 40 years of 
age, and was said to possess herculean strength, was 
broad across the shoulders, small at the waist, and so 
admirably formed that the Spaniards declared him alto- 
gether the finest looking Indian they had yet beheld. — 
He was a perfect impersonation of the stoic of the 
woods : and, paying but little attention to %e Spanish 
Cavaliers as they curvetted on their steeds around him, 
he retained the most imperturbable gravity, until De- 
Soto himself appeared^ when, with much dignity and 
grace, he arose and advanced fifteen paces to receive 
him. DeSoto alighted from his horse and embraced 
him, and they remained conversing, through an inter- 
preter, while the troops were allotted quarters in the 
village. After this thev walked, hand in hand to the 
quarters prepared for DeSoto, which was near the house 
occupied by Tuskaloosa himself. 

PIACHE, OR THE ANCIENT TOWN OF TUSKALOOSA, ON THE 
ALABAMA RIVER. 

After reposing two days in the village, DeSoto con- 
tinued his march, accompanied by Tuskaloosa, whom he 
kept with him for his own security. DeSoto ordered. 



The Origin of its Name, Us //i^sforj/, clc. 2:5 

as usual, that a horse shoukl be provided for the Ca- 
cique, but for some time the}' sought in vain for a steed 
of sufficient size and strength to bear so gigantic a rider. 
At length they found a stout hackney, which, from its 
powerful frame was used as a pack-horse, and when the 
Cacique bestrode him, his feet nearly touched the ground. 
None of the writers give the exact inches of this giant 
chief, but as they all agree that he was a foot and a 
half taller than any Spaniard or Indian in the army, we 
are led to believe that he must have been about Ih. to 8 
feet in height. DeSoto had given Tuskaloosa a dress 
of scarlet cloth, and a (lowing mantle of the same, 
which, with his towering plumes, added to the grand- 
eur of his appearance, made him most conspif^uous 
amongst the steel-clad warriors around him. 

At the end of three days' march of four leagues each, 
they arrived at the principal village, called Tuskaloosa, 
from which the province and the Cacique himself de- 
rived their name. (This town is called Piache, by the 
Portuguese narrator, and Tazalaza by Biedma)'. It 
was a strong place, situated, like Tallise, upon a penin- 
sula formed by the windings of the same river, which 
had here grown wider and more powerful. This was the 
Alabama, and it is believed that the first town that ever 
bore the name of our oak-embowered city was situated, 
336 years ago, near Evans' Landing, in Wilcox county, 
on the Alabama river. Mr. McCulloch says (page 525) 
there is a ford about sixty leagues above its confluence 
with the Tombeckbee, which the Choctaws called Taska- 
lousas (spelled with a k), and here it is supposed this 
army crossed. At Tuskaloosa, two soldiers were miss- 
ing, and, suspecting they might have been killed by the 
Indians, DeSoto enquired after them of those who ac- 
companied Tuskaloosa, and receiving an insolent reply, 
he threatened to retain their chief as a hostage until the 
Spaniards were produced. This was of no avail, and 
owing to the difficulties which beset him. DeSoto' was 
obliged to dissemble for the present, and they contirnied 



24 1n,sh'a/oo,sa, 

their journey on apparently amicable terms, yet Irorn 
that hour secretly distrustful of each other. 

MAVILLE. OR MAUVILLH (moBILE). 

During- their march, the (yacique. under pretext of or- 
deriuii- a supply of provisions for his guests, sent for- 
ward one of his people to a town called Mauville. — 
Douhiless this is the source of the name of our Com- 
mercial Emporium, as the Spaniards are said to have 
used the letters v and b indifferently in place of each 
(jthei'. and which are articulated in nearly the same man- 
ner. The Portuguese author spells it Maville. The 
town being on the frontier of the province was strouglv 
fortilied, and DeSoto took the precaution of sending two 
trusty men in advance, to report the appearance of 
things before he should arrive there. 

It was on the morning of the 18th of October, 1540, 
wher: DeSoto arrived at ,the town of Mauville. This 
was a strong-hold where the Cacique and his principal 
men resided. It was the capital of the kingdom of 
Tuskaloosa, and was situated on the north bank of a 
magnificent river. It was completely encircled by a 
high wall, formed of huge trunks of trees, placed in the 
groiuid side by side, and fastened togetlier by large 
vines. There were but two entrances to the town, one 
at the east and the other at the west. The wall was 
surmounted by numerous towers, and pierced at close 
intervals with port-holes, from which arrows might be 
discharged at an enemy. There were but 80 houses, 
but these were of immense size, capable of containing 
one thousand persons each. They were built in the 
modern style of Indian council-houses, and were erected 
around a square in the centre of the village. 

DeSoto had no sooner arrived in the village than he 
was informed by his spies that the Indians had collected 
in immense numbers, and with very hostile appearance. 
The spies computed the number of warriors in the village 
at more than ten thousand, all well ai-nied. The women 
and children were nearly all removed. These fixcts con- 



'The Origin of its Name, Us History^ etc. 25 

vinced DeSoto that the Indians entertained hostile and 
treacherous intentions. He secretly ordered his men to 
hold themselves in readiness, and dispatched a messen- 
ger to one of his aids, Mucozo, who was behind witli 
some forces, to hurry on with the residue of his army. 
Tuskaloosa had, in the meantime, entered one of the 
houses. He was sent for by DeSoto, but refused to re- 
turn. An altercation took place between the messenger 
and an Indian chieftain. The Indian warrior was slain 
by the messenger, and this inaugurated 

THE BATTLE OF MaUVILLE. 

The Indians became frantic. The war-whoop rang 
through the village. From every house immense hordes 
of savages poured forth, and rushed upon the Span- 
iards with the fury of demons. DeSoto rallied his forcen, 
and through terrible carnage cut his way out of the city. 
He was pursued by the Indians, who seized and slew most 
of his horses, that had been tethered just outside the 
walls. Fortunately, at this monent, the main body of 
forces under Mucozo came up, and the savages were re- 
pulsed and driven into the city. They had seized, how- 
ever, the baggage and effects of the ai my and carried 
them with them in their retreat. The Spaniards made 
a desperate effort to storm the walls, but were assailed 
with such showers of arrows and stones, from the towers 
and loop-holes, as to be compelled to retreat. 

The Indians again sallied from the ramparts, and 
fought like maddened tigers. Nothmg but the superior 
armor of the Spaniards saved them from total annihila- 
tion. At length, by the aid of their battle-axes, they 
hewed open the gates, and forced their way into the 
village. The battle now became more desperate and 
bloody. Hand to hand the steel-clad footmen fought 
with the naked savages. The war-club and the bow 
were feeble weapons in comparison with the heavy clay- 
more and the tried battle-axe. At the same tirne the 
sturdy cavaliers made frightful lanes through the ranks 
of the natives. Upon their trained ho]\ses they charaed 



20 Tuiikalooaa, 

upon the confused hordes, tramphug and hewing them 
down, and pursuing them from street to street. The In- 
dians at length took refuge in their houses,but their hoped 
for security proved their entire destruction. In a mo- 
ment their dweUings were wrapped in flames. Many of 
them continued to fight from the summits of their 
houses till they fell in and perished in the fire. The 
others rushed forth with dreadful yells, only to meet a yet 
more certain doom from the infuriated Spaniards. Not 
one of them asked or would accept of quarter. De; 
Soto fought at the head of his troops, and was every- 
where in the thickest of the fight. The chiet, Tuska- 
loosa, perished in the flames of his dwelling, dying like 
a wari'ior, and leaving a name which deserves to be held 
in perpetual reverence, as that of a hero and a patriot. 

The battle lasted nine hours As the sun went down 
his yellow rays fell upon the smoking ruins of the vil- 
lage — its houses all consumed, its walls nearly leveled 
with the ground. The streets and the adjacent plains 
were covered with the corpses of the dead. More than 
ten thousand Indians were slain, including those who 
had perished in the flames. The Spanisli loss was 82 
killed. Nearly every soldier in the army was wounded, 
many of them severel}' They also lost 42 horses, and 
all their baggage and effects. Their victory was one of 
ruin, sweeping away every species of spoil obtained so 
mercilessly during the expedition. Thus terminated the 
most desperate and bloody Indian battle that ever oc- 
curred on the soil of the United States. 

Scores of daring and heroic incidents are detailed by 
the Inca de Garcilaso, but time will not permit their re- 
hearsal. I have merely skimmed over all the authori- 
ties, and condensed the result for this occasion. Even 
the women fought until they nearly all perished. The last 
scene of all was a fitting climax to so brave and desper- 
ate a struggle, and not only throws into the shade the 
Spartan gi-andeur at Therm<)})yla?, but furnishes an illus- 
tration of patriotism in the wilds of Alabama, foi- the 



The Origin uf its Name, its History^ etc. 27 

"benefit of her sons, the grandest upon record, and 
we close the account of this desperate battle by repeat- 
ing it, for the last warrior died by his own hand, rather 
than surrender to the invaders of his country. He 
was the last of the ten thousand. 

SELF DESTRQCTION OF THE LAST WARRIOR. 

When the battle was about ended, DeSoto, fired with 
intense admiration for the few who remained struggling 
when all hope was fled, tried to induce the remnant to 
surrender, and thus save their lives, but to the last man 
as well as nearly to the last women, they stubbornly re- 
fused to lay down their arms, and fought until the last 
man but one was slain. This last Indian who wielded a 
weapon, was one of those fighting in the village. So blind- 
ed was he by fury, that he was unconscious of the fate of 
his comrades, until glancing his eye around, he saw them 
all lying dead. Then, seeing that all further contest was 
hopeless, he turned to fly, and reaching the wall he 
sprang lightly to the top, thinking to escape to the fields. 
Here, however, to his dismay, he beheld squadrons of 
horse and foot below him, and the field covered all over 
with his slaughtered countrymen. Escape was impossi- 
ble ; death or slavery only awaited him from the hands 
of the enemy. In his despair, he snatched the string 
from his bow, passed it around his neck, and fastening 
the other end to a branch of one of the trees that grew 
out of the rampart, he threw himself ofif from the wall, 
in full view of DeSoto's army, and was strangled before 
the Spaniards could prevent it. 

So perished, my friends (in 1540), the mighty chief.and 
the last of his heroic army, for whom your city has been 
named. Is it not a record of the most thrilling interest ? 
and should it not awaken our sympathy for the remnant, 
of a noble race, who have thus illustrated the virtue of 
patriotism and resistence to wrong. Such legacies left 
in a country, no matter by whom, are of infinitely more 
value than gold or pearls; of great price, for the emula- 
tion of mankind. This history of Tuskaloosa and his 



28 Tushaloosa, 

warriors (first published in 1557) stauds first iu any writ- 
ten history of our country,aud first in comparison with he- 
roism anywhere in Grecian, Roman or Enghsli annals, 
and should it not be engraved, on the first pages of eve- 
ry school-book in the land, as the heroic dawn of North 
American history ? This will never be done, my friends, 
while we remain content to be fed during childhood aiid 
youth on the literary pabulum that Oows from Northern 
and New England pens. 

I think I have shown , that not only is Tuskaloosa the 
first name that appears with prominence in North Amer- 
ican histor}'^, but that it stands forth unrivaled in the as- 
sociations it can be made to yield, to illustrate in all its 
grandeur, the virtue of patriotism, and that love of 
father-land which should be instilled, as the seed of all 
other virtues, almost with the mother's milk, into the 
souls of our children ; and, further, 1 think T have 
shown that Southern school-books should be written by 
Southern men, from which every child in Alabama 
should be made familiar with th'e history of his State. — 
Another thought also occurs iu this connection. Why is 
it that in a land literally overflowing with the most ro- 
mantic and thrilling incidents in its history, appealing 
to the deepest sympathies of the human heart, and to 
the keenest emotions of the human soul ; with the grand- 
est profusion of materials at hand, such as Scott and 
Burns have utilized, and with which, in story and in song, 
they have made their land classic before the world — I 
eay why is it that with all these our literary men have 
neglected this field so long, or cultivated it so sparsely ? 
I pause for an answer. Echo only answers, why ? 

CABUSTO, OR ERIE — CROSSING THE WARRIOR RIVER. 

Having thus accompanied DeSoto far enough to es- 
tablish the claim of Tuskaloosa to the most heroic and 
ancient name in the history of the United States, it does 
not fall within the limits of this paper to pursue his 
further career with the same detail. We can therefore 
only follow his course in a general and cursory manner. 



The Oriyin of its Name, its History, etc. 29 

After the battle of Mauville, (also spelled Maubila 
by the Inca Garcilaso). the condition of the Spaniards 
was most deplorable. So great was their sufferings that 
they became heartily sick of their enterprise, for their 
golden dreams had all faded away, and they desired to 
be led only to the Bay of Ochuse (Pensacola). which 
they supposed was only about 100 miles distant. 
They had been induced into the enterprise to 
gather gold and renown, and to carry the blessings of 
the cross to the heathen, and they had reaped only 
thorns, toil and dishonor, and therank and file inurmured 
to return. DeSoto, however, would yield to no entrea- 
ty while the objects of the campaign were unaccom- 
plished, and: instead of proceeding to Pensacola, order- 
ed his army to march due north, back into the interior. 
Accordingly, on the 18th of November, the army, re- 
duced to less than half its original number, and ex- 
hausted in supplies, wended its way northward for five 
days, traveling 18 miles each day through a fertile but 
uninhabited country, when they arrived at a village called 
Cabusio, in the province of Vafallaya. This is supposed 
to have been at or near the present site of Erie, on the 
Black Warrior river and about forty miles from our 
present city of Tuskaloosa. It was situated on a wide 
and deep river with high banks. Here they were twelve 
days constructing boats to cross the stream, which they 
finally accomplished, notwithstanding they were annoyed 
constantly by the Indians. On landing on the opposite 
bank, the Indians, after severe skirmishing, fled, and the 
army proceeded on its way. 

CROSSING OF THE TOMBECKBEE. 

After five days' march through a level and fertile 
country, interspersed with small hamlets, in which 
quantities of maize and dried pulse were found, they 
arrived at another river (evidently the Tombeckbee — 
other evidence shows a fair description of the country 
between the two rivers), where the Indians were col- 
lected to dispute the passage. Their courage however 



30 Tushaloosa, 

evaporated, and the army crossed without opposition. 

GHICAZA, CHICACILLA, AND FORT ALIBAMO. 

The Spaniards were now in the province called 
Chicaza, and in a few days arrived at the principal town 
of the same name- On each side of the town (lowed a 
small stream, bordered by groves of walnut and oak 
trees. It being now the middle of De(;ember, DeSoto 
determined to spend the winter there, and took posses- 
sion of the village. The Indians were enraged, but 
kept quiet — "nursing their wrath to keep it warm.'' — 
At length, one dark and windy night, when the encamp- 
ment was shrouded in sleep, they deceived the sentinels 
and set fire to the village, and then ensued a conflict 
and conflagration second onlj- to that of Mauville. Many 
of the Spaniards were burnt to death ; others were 
slain. They succeeded at length in repulsing the sav- 
ages, after a desperate battle of several hours. The 
loss of their dwellings caused them to remove in a few 
days to a more favorable position, which was called 
Chicacilla. On April 1st, the army proceeded on its 
way. They soon came to a powerful fortress called 
Alibamo, upon the bank of a small but rapid river, 
which, after hard fighting, they stormed and took. This 
Fort Alibamo is doubtless the original of the word Ala- 
bama, a Muscogee name signifying ''here we rest.'' The 
river is supposed to have been the Yazoo. 

THE MISSISSIPPI, THE FATHER OF WATERS. FIRST SEEN BY 

WHITE MEN. 

Marching north-west for several days, they came to 
the largest and most magnificent river they had ever 
seen. They called it the Rio Grande , Its Indian name 
was Chicagua. It was the Mississippi river, and the 
Spaniards were the first white men that beheld the 
mighty monarch of rivers. They crossed near the lowest 
Chickasaw bluff, not fai- from the 34th parallel of latitude. 

DE SOTO's DEATH — HIS SUCCESSOR MUSCOZO — END OF EXPE- 
DITION. 

Beyond this point it does not fall within our province 



The Origin of its Name, its History, etc. 31 

to trace the nomadic march of DeSoto. Suffice it to 
say, that for twelve months he continued his wander- 
ings as far west as to the foot of the Rocky Mountains, 
and at length, worn out by fatigue and almost broken- 
hearted, he returned to the Mississippi, and while making 
preparations to leave the country, he was seized with 
malignant fever, and died on the 21st of May, 1542, 
universally lamented by his followers, and was buried in 
the channel of the Mississippi river. 

After DeSoto's death, the Spaniards, under Muscozo, 
(whom DeSoto had named as his successor in command), 
made an attempt to reach Mexico by land. They were 
foiled in all their efforts, and were forced to return to 
the Mississippi river. Upon it they embarked in seven 
rudely constructed brigantines, descended to its mouth, 
and proceeded along the coast. After numerous perils 
and sufferings, they reached the Spanish settlements at 
Panuco, in Mexico, on the 10th of September, 1543, 
just four years and two months after their landing at 
Tampa Bay. Their number was reduced to 311 men, 
in an almost naked and famished condition. Their horses 
were all lost, and as for wealth and fame they retained 
not even its shadow. 

DE SOTO VIEWED AS AN AVANT-CODRIER OF CIVILIZATION. 

The wild and romantic expedition of DeSoto, which 
I have rehearsed in your hearing, was without doubt 
the mere offspring of a sordid lust for gold, and an un- 
holy ambition for glory, and in its inception and execu- 
tion there was equally a total disregard of the rights of 
others, and we cannot but feel that it was a most right- 
eous retribution, that, thanks to Tuskaloosa and his 
warriors at the Indian Thermopylas of Mauville, and to 
that love of liberty which has distinguished the ' 'stoics 
of the woods" everywhere, not one of the gains sought 
after by DeSoto and his followers fell to the lot of a solita- 
ry man in the expedition. Still, who that looks back 
with a philosophic eye, over the three and a third cen- 
turies that have rolled between, can fail to discover that 



32 Tmkaloosa, 

God sometimes permits even the wickedness of man to 
work out His plans, while punishing the perpetrator of 
wrong with an unsparing hand ? Who can deny that 
the opening of this continent to the populations of the 
old world has been a blessing to mankind at large ? An 
unprogressive race had for ages occupied a continent of 
His vineyard, who buried His talent in a napkin, and 
engaged incessantly in tribal wars, produced nothing for 
the general advancement of His creatures ; and who can 
fail to see that Hernando DeSoto has been used as a 
factor to break down the barriers of barbarism, that 
the civilization of these latter days might come ? 

If we have faith in the story of the cross, it is upon 
record that He even permitted the sacrifice of His own 
Son, that a world might be redeemed. Nor is this ex- 
ample confined to the moral world. In physical nature we 
find the same law of general compensations. Evidence 
of great convulsions in the earth's surface, ages upon 
ages past, according to the computations of geologists, 
which in these latter days are innuring to the happiness 
of man. Our own continent and position upon it is an 
illustration of this. 

Who that will look upon the map, and see from Penn- 
sylvania to Tuskaloosa the mountains and valleys all 
tending from north-east to south-west, in one continu- 
ous chain, iiaving been thrown up and hollowed out 
thousands of ages ago, in some grand convulsion of na- 
ture, apparently not only to render it possible, but im- 
perative, that the young empire of which we form a 
part should construct a highway for the nation along 
these valle3''s, from New England to New Orleans ; from 
the frigid regions of her north-eastern boundary to the 
waters which connect the spicey Islands of the Carib- 
bean Sea ; from the great lakes to the gulf — and remain 
oblivious to the evident design of the Architect Supreme ? 

Though improved intercommunication has. as yet, 
given us but few of its promised blessings, and our im- 
mediate commerce has been lessened bv what has been 



The Origm of its Name, its History^ etc. 33 

done in this direction, I yet believe the day will come 
when these gulf States, along the great through lines of 
transportation, will literally be the garden spots of the 
Union, supplying the tables of the great centres of pop- 
ulation with their daily food, and furnishing every spe- 
cies of vegetable from two to three months earlier than: 
their own territory can supply ; and that, before anoth- 
er centennial, it will be looked upon as one of the un- 
accountable marvels of the past, that cotton was ever 
king to the people along these lines, who had imported^ 
even their own provisions. When that day comes (if 
we can only survive the period of parturition), then the 
Union will have reached its maximum of perfection, 
and Puck may rejoice that the earth has been literally 
girdled with an iron band of peace, and in that rejoicing 
Tuskaloosa will heartily unite. 

Judging, then, by analogy and by results, we assume 
that for wise purposes the barbaric power of the great 
chief Tuskaloosa, was permitted to be broken down and 
destroyed by DeSoto, at the battle of Mauville, in order' 
that it should become a mere question of time when a 
Christianized and a civilized race should occupy and beau- 
tify these dominions. 

For nearly two centuries afterwards, these territories 
became the theatre of action for French, Spanish and 
English adventurers ; all seeking the supremacy of their 
country, at the expense of the divided and demoralized 
Indian tribes, and no matter what branch of the pale 
faces has been, at different times and places, in the as- 
cendency, the Indian, in the land of his fathers, has 
been the mere foot-ball of destiny, driven from spot to 
stop, as the tidal wave of so-called civilization has ad- 
vanced, 

"Until there seems no resting place 
For Hiawatha's scattered race." 

FRENCH SETTLEMENT ON DAUPHIN ISLAND. 

1(1 1699, Iberville, an officer of the King of France, 
brought from that country a colony of 800 persons and 



34 Ttishaloosa, 

settled them on Dauphin Island, hi Mobile Bay. Thence 
he commenced (according to A. B. Meek) an intercourse 
with the interior tribes, calling themselves Alibmnons, 
Choctaws, Mobiles, Creeks and Chickasaws. For many 
years the Colonists were engaged in violent wars with 
these tribes, particularly with the Alibamons, and final- 
ly with the English from the Carolinas — the parent 
countries being at that time at war, and both parties en- 
gaged the Indians to fight for them. In 1714 the French 
made a military settlement at the junction of the Coosa 
and Tallapoosa ; another upon the Tombeckbee, another 
on the Yazoo, and a fourth on the Tennessee, then 
called the Cherokee. 

In 1732, there was great increase of population from 
Europe. New Orleans was founded. There was a vio- 
lent war in Florida. Pensacola was captured. Dauphin 
Island was attacked. 

In 1736, Bienville, with 1500 troops, assisted by 1200 
Choctaws, ascended the Tombeckbee 250 miles, to make 
war upon the Chickasaws, and landed his troops at what 
is now Cotton Gin Port, where, finding he could not 
transport his artillery, he left it, and marched 20 miles 
to attack their stronghold. He found the English flag 
floating over a strong palisaded fort — evidence that they 
were headed by traders from the Carolinas After des- 
perate assaults being made for a whole day by his forces, 
the fort was found to be impregnable, and on the night 
of May 12th he retreated to his fortifications on the 
Tombeckbee. His allies, the Choctaws, abandoned 
him. He threw his cannon into the river, and, crest- 
fallen, floated his army back to Mobile. In 1740, how- 
ever, he returned with a/ more powerful army, and 
brought the Chickasaws to terms. 

TRADITIONS FROM CHUl.A-TARLA-EMALTHA — HIS ACCOUNT OF 
THE ORIGIN OF THE SEMINOLES. ' 

From 1740 to the beginning of the 19th century, the 
history of the south and south-west, presents one con- 
tinued struggle for ascendency, principally by the French 



The Origin of itfi Numr, its Historii, etc. 35 

and Spaniards, though the EngUsh also attempted some 
settlements. In all these struggles the Indians, who 
were the descendants of the men who fought and died 
with Tuskaloosa at the battle of Mauville, took pnrt, the 
Tuckabatcheea, Choctaws, Muscogees, Mobiles, tVeeks, 
Alabamas, etc., who, though disorganized by that ter- 
rible battle, have retained their war-like character 
through all adversities. If Gen. Woodward (or Chula- 
tarla-Emaltha, his Indian name) and Rev. H. F. Buck- 
ner are correct, then Col. Pickett is in error in suppos- 
ing that the Creeks were not inhabiting Alabama when 
DeSoto passed through it, for Gen. Woodward says the 
Creeks themselves have specific traditions that they were 
there and fought him, and that they once had a giant 
chief named Tustenuk Luste in their language, or Black 
Warrior, which is the equivalent of Tuskaloosa in Choc- 
taw ; and Mr. Buckner says, in a letter to myself (and 
he is high authority), that Col. Pickett, in mentioning 
that DeSoto passed through Tulhmuchassee, unconscious- 
ly furnishes testimony that the Creeks were there, that 
being the Creek name for Newtown, and asserts that 
no other tribe could have such a name. 

The Reminiscences of Gen. Woodward are most in- 
teresting, abounding in traditions. I will, however, only 
give his account of the origin of the Seminoles, and 
leave this branch of the theme furnished me. He says 
that a people known as Yemassees occupied middle Flor- 
ida, before the Creeks migrated from the Rio del Norte 
to the east of the Mississippi : that they had dark skins, 
coarse hair, thick lips, and flat feet, and in implements 
of war were very inferior to the Creeks. A war of 
extermination was waged against them by the Creeks, 
and finally at Tallahassee the last of the males and war- 
riors were slain ; but ab<~>ut a thousand of the young 
Creek warriors took sweethearts among the Yemassee 
girls, and saved them from death. According to Creek 
law those were required to remain out of the nation a 
year for purification. Before the year was out the yoimg 



3tj Tnffkaloosa, 

warriors concluded to m;ikt' wives of them, and set up 
as a nation for themselves. The Creeks called them 
Senmio/es. which means outlaws, wild-men, mad-men, etc. 
This was the origin of the Serninoles. They were after- 
wards joined by otlier outlaws, and run-aways from 
other tribes, and soon became a formidable people, as 
(he says) Uncle Sam found out during the Florida war. 



Pj^KT secotstd. 

MODERN TUSKALOOSA. 

Having in the preceding pages shown that ancient 
Tuskaloosa was upon the Alabama river, in 1540, and 
that the heroic deeds of its giant chief and his warriors 
at the battle of Mauville had been recorded and pub- 
lished as early as 1557, it now becomes our duty to re- 
view in brief the history of this, our Modern Tuskaloo- 
sa, or the Tuskaloosa of the 19th century. 

The first mention of Tuskaloosa Falls that I find in 
any history, is that by Col. A. J. Pickett, in his history 
of Alabama, (vol. 2, page 47), where he shows that in 
1781 a party of more than one hundred persons, includ- 
ing women and children, fleeing from Natchez, crossed 
the Warrior at these falls, by alternately wading and 
swimming from to rock to rock. This was 34 years be;- 
fore any settlement was made by Americans at the falls 
of the Warrior. 

The first mention of any settlement that I have been 
able to find, is that of Black Warrior Town, about half a 
mile below our wharf, on the left bank of the river ; and 
myself and the Alabama Historical Society are indebted 
to copies of the manuscript notes of the Hon. Geo, S. 
Gaines for this record, recently received from his son 
H. S, Gaines, and it is from these notes I cull the follow- 
ing interesting particulars : 

In 1803, Louisiana passed into the posession of the 
United States, and the generous policy inaugurated by 
Washington, of establishing United States trading posts 
throughout the Indian territory, where goods should be 
furnished to the Indians, at cost, in exchange for their pel- 
tries and furs, was continued in the purest spirit, through- 
out the then so-called Mississippi territory, which em- 
braced all the present domain of Alabama and Missis- 
sippi. 

In those days only the best and purest men were se- 
lected for such agencies. There were no Belknaps who 



38 Tnsholoosa, 

sold such privileges, and a man of the most inflexible 
integrity, the honored Geo. S. Gaines (recently deceased 
at the ripe age of 89 years), was appointed in 1805 as 
agent for the United States, at St. Stephens, on the 
Tombeckbee river. 

Mr. Gaines was a genial as well as an honest man, 
deeply imbued with a full recognition of the justice and 
humanity of Washington's policy, and in all his dealings 
with the Indians he won their highest regard, so that 
his personal character was of great service to the United 
States in making treaties and arranging terms for the 
cession of territory. These treaties were made at his 
house, and at such times he would entertain at his table all 
the chief men of the tribes interested. In June, 1805, the 
Indians met the U. S. Commissioners at St. Stephen's by 
appointment. The object was to purchase the Indian 
claim, so as to connect the Tombeckbee settlement with 
that of Natchez, and the Indians assembled in large 
numbers. The chiefs and their captains were invited 
every day to dine with the commissioners at the factor's 
house, And therefore he saw much of them during their 
stay at St. Stephen's, which he says, caused both sur- 
prise and admiration. That he found them not such 
savages as he had imagined, and that they had a vein of 
humor and pleasantry, with which they were not usual- 
ly credited. Mr. G. then relates an incident which took 
place at his table, to illustrate this, where about 25 U. 
S. officials, and an equal number of chiefs and captains 
were at dinner, the Indians enjoying the wine (which 
flowed freely) fully equal to the whites. 

INDIAN HUMOR — AN IMPERTINENT U. S. LIEUTENANT SOLD. 

There were three great medal-chiefs present — Mingo- 
homo-siubbee, Mingo- Puck- Shennubhee, and Push-matta-ha 
— and they all seemed to enjoy the wit and humor 
which the wine brought forth, interpreters being inter- 
spersed at the table to facilitate conversation. 

A young Lieutenant made himself troublesome to the 
old chief Mingo-homo-Stubbee. by asking a great many 



The Origin of its Name, its History, etc. '^9 . 

questions. Finally he asked, who among them was con- 
sidered theiv greatest warrior. The chief answered, 
"I was considered the greatest warrior, until on return- 
ing from a visit to President Washington, at Philadel- 
phia, I found out it was not the case." "Ah ! indeed, 
how did you make the discovery, enquired the Lieuten- 
ant ?" "Well (replied the chief), the President sent us 
back home in a ship to New Orleans, and when we were 
out at sea, entirely out of sight of land, a storm came 
upon us. The waves were so high, they seemed almost 
to kiss the clouds, and the ship rolled about among 
them, until I thought that we would never again see the 
beautiful hills and valleys, forests and streams, of our 
beloved country, and that our bones would lie scattered 
on the bottom of the strange waters, instead of resting 
peacefully with our departed relations. All this alarmed 
me, and I found that 1 had not the firmness in danger 
and the utter fearlessness of death of a great warrior, 
and concluded to go down into the cabin, to see how my 
friend over there, Puck-Shennubbee was affected by this 
(to our party) new and strange danger ; and what do 
you think he was doing ?" This description of the 
storm* had attracted the attention of every one at the 
table — all were listening when the Lieutenant eagerly 
asked : "Well, what was he doing?" "Why, (said the 
old chief, with a grave face, but a humorous twinkle of 
the eyes) he was making love to an old squaw we took 
along to cook for us, and he seerned to be as unconcern- 
ed aboutthe danger as if he was at home in his own cabin, 
sitting by the fire and listening to the songs of the 
winds among the trees.'' 

Puck-Shennubbee (who was as remarkable for his 
modesty as Homo-,Stubbee was for his wit) indignantly 
denied it, but his denial was drowned, amid the roars of 
laughter which followed this denoument. But the Lieu- 
tenant asked no further questions of Mingo- Homo- Stub- 
bee. 

COURTSHIP OF THECHOCTAWS. 

In 1806. Mr. Gaines says: "By this time 1 became 



40 Tiiskaloasa, 

pretty well acquainted with the manners and customs 
of the Choctaw Indians. Poligamy was 'not forbidden. 
In some instances a very active hunter would have two 
wives, but one wife was generally the rule. Courtship 
was conducted in this way-' A. young man becoming 
pleased with a maiden, proposed for her to her maternal 
uncle {i. e. her mother's brother), and often accompanied 
his proposal with presents before he could obtain the un- 
cle's consent. When this was obtained the maiden was 
soon won. Such was the chastity and modesty of the 
females, that jealousy on the p%rt of husbands was rare- 
ly or never heard of. 

BURIAL OF CHOCTAW DEAD. 

"Instead of burying their dead, the corpse was wrap- 
ped in a blanket and placed on a scaffold in the yard of 
the family. The scaffold was 10 or 12 feet high. The 
body remained on the scaffold until the flesh became so 
much decayed as to seperate easily from the bones. — 
Then a professional bone-picker was sent for to perform 
the undertaker's duty, viz : to take down the body, sep- 
arate the bones from the flesh, wash them clean, and 
lastly lay them in a small box made for the purpose, af- 
ter which the box was deposited in the bone-house of 
the village. Every day while the corpse was lying upon 
the scaffold, the relatives, near at hand, seated them- 
selves around, and, covering their heads with a blanket 
or other garment, would weep and lament for half an 
hour. If any of the relatives were traveling, they 
would seat themselves by the path-side, cover their 
heads and weep at the same hour agreed upon with the 
mourners at home ; and this continued till the seasoii of 
grief had expired. After this, the relatives and friends 
enjoyed a feast, prepared to mark the period." 

This gathering of the bones into a box, and deposit- 
ing it in a place set apart for the purpose, as described 
above by Mr. Gaines, may seem to us a sti'ange and of- 
fensive custom,, but is it only so because it is not our 
custom. The cremation of the ancients, redaciiio- the 



The Origin of its Name, its History ^ etc: 41 

body to a cup-full of aslies, and depositing the same in 
costly vas^s in the tomb of their ancestors, was neither 
more nor less than a recognition of the same sentiment 
found here in the wilderness, among a people who, as 
far as known, had no connection with the more culti- 
vated heathen of ancient times. The identity at least 
is remarkable. 

AMUSEMEN'i'S, MANNERS, ETC 

Under this head Mr. Gaines says : "Their amuse- 
ments were ball-plays, a few games of chance, and 
dances. The ball-plays J)y the men were enjoyed by 
both sexes. The dances were much enjoyed by the 
young people. Their rules of propriety were general- 
ly strictly observed. The eldest brother of a family 
"was considered governor of his sister's children — the 
fathers having but little to do with their management. 
The mothers managed them and appeared to take great 
pleasure in their well ' doing. ^ The girls assisted their 
mothers in their various duties. The boys amused 
themselves with blow-guns, and bows and arrows, rarely 
ever being required to do any work. The mothers and 
•daughters cultivated their 'truck-patches,^ performed all 
the duties pertaining to household or camp, etc. The 
men were all hunters — that seemed to be considered 
their whole duty. They built the cabins, and besides 
that in which they lived, another, 'the hot house,'' was 
built, to sleep in during cold weather. The walls of 
this were made of poles and mud, and the whole struct- 
ure made as air-tight as possible, leaving one small 
door. The fire was built in the middle of the dirt- 
floor, and a small aperture was left in the roof for the 
escape of the smoke. A small scaffolding to sleep on 
was fixed to the walls all around. Everything that I 
have said of the Choctaws will apply as well to the 
Chickasaws. There was a mildness and civility in these 
tribes which distinguished them from their neighbors, 
the Creeks and Cherokees. Whether this was natural, 
or was owing to their former intercourse with the French 



42 ' Tuslialoosa, 

people of Louisiana, I am unable to determine." 

BLACK WARRIOR TOWN. 

1 have culled these interesting extracts from the notes 
of Mr. Gaines because in chronological order we thus 
arrive at the first mention by any Writer, as far as 1 
know, of the first settlement at the/ falls of the Black 
Warrior, near where now stands our modern Tuskaloo- 
sa, the deeply embowered and beautiful "City of Oaks y 

Mr. Gaines says, that : "In 1807, the business of the 
trading house at St. Stephens had so much increased in 
popularity, that it brought hunters from all parts of the 
nation. Hunters from the Creek settlement, at the falls 
of the Black Warrior, came frequently to trade ; and I 
had occasional visits from Creeks residing beyond the 
Alabama river. My instructions from the 'Superin- 
tendent of Indian trade,' made it my duty to be care- 
ful, not to sell the Indians a damaged article of goods, with- 
out pointing out the damage and reducing the price to 
what I considered its actual value. When blankets, 
shawls, or cotton and linen goods, appeared tome to be 
lighter or more flimsy and less durable than they pur- 
ported to be, to point nut the defect and reduce tM price 
alsoy 

(What a contrast this with the malfeasance in office, 
and the frauds upon the Indians in these latter days, 
nor is it any wonder we have Indian wars as the result.) 

Mr. Gaines continues, and sS,ys : "From 1807 to 1810, 
settlements were being extended higher up the river on 
both sides, and westward on Chickasawha. Wayne, 
Greene and Perry counties were organized, the emi- 
grants being principally from South Carolina and 
Georgia. 

''In October, 1810 , I received instructions from the 
War Department to proceed to the Chickasaw Nation, 
and endeavor to olDtain permission of the Indians to 
open a wagon-road from Colbert's Ferry (through their 
country) to Cotton Gin Port, on the Tombeckbee, and 
to make arrangements to transport goods thence to St. 



The Origin of its Name, its History, etc. 43 

Stephens. I set out at once in obedience to my instruc- 
tions. I had an interview with the leading chiefs of the 
Chickasaws, who objected to opening a wagon-road, but 
promised facilities and safety for the transportation of 
the goods for the Choctaw trading-house, on pack- 
horses, at a very moderate expense. This was done, 
and the goods were all received at St Stephens in good 
order, without the loss of an article. 

"In 1811, the quiet reigning in the Tombigbee (or 
Tombeckbee) settlements began to be somewhat dis- 
turbed, by rumors of difficulties with England. Col. 
Jas. Caller created some excitement about a better or- 
ganization of the militia, and about the same time we 
received rumors of restlessness among the Creek In- 
dians ; indeed it was apparent in the parties of Creeks 
who came to the tradiug-house." 

O-CE-OCHE-MOTLA. 

Prior to this, for a long time, the country along the 
Black Warrior river, and for a large area, by agreemerbt 
between the Creeks and Choctaws, had been considered 
as neutral territory, and as hunting ground for both 
tribes ; neither without the consent of the other could 
have a settlement therein. When afterwards a settle- 
ment was permitted at Black Warrior Town, about a 
mile from here, and war was declared between Great 
Britain and the United States, this settlement became a 
danger and a menace to the whites and their allies, the 
friendly Choctaws, as Mr. Gaines proceeds to show. — • 
He says : "A cunning Creek chief named 0-ce-oche-motla 
obtained permission of the Choctaws to make a settle* 
ment at the falls of the Black Warrior, so that the hun- 
ters of each tribe might have a resting place when 
visiting each other. This settlement had increased to 
many families, before I took charge of the trading- 
house at St. Stephens, and traded largely with us. I 
was in the habit of extending a credit to the old chief 
of about $100, which he always paid off at his next 
visit, but expected the same indulgence after he finished 



4 1 TiwikalooNa, 

bartering. He was in tlie habit of paying me a visit 
spring and Tall, coming down the river in a tl<^et of ca- 
noes. He came down as usual in the fall Of 1811 with 
a large fleet of Canoes, and 30 to 40 warriors, bringing 
cargoes of peltries, furs, etc. There was a Mr. Tandy 
Walker residing in the neighborhood of St. Stephens, 
who had lived many years before in the Creek Nation, 
as a public blacksmith. Walker had acquired their 
language, and was. a great favorite with the Creek In- 
dians. My Black Warrior friend always sent for Tandy 
Walker to act as interpreter, when htf came to trade 
with me. On the present occasion, I noticed that the 
old chief was extremely desirous to make me believe 
he was very much attached to me He stated that he 
had 'took my talk,' and built a snug store-house at Black 
Warrior Town, and had now brought down in his canoes 
several hundred dollars' worth of furs, etc., to purchase 
goods for his new store. I had several times offered 
him credit to the amount of four or five hundred dol- 
lars, but he would never until now exceed one hundred 
dollars of debt. We spent the first day in receiving 
and taking account of his articles, which being entered 
on my books, the chief renewed Jiis friendly conversa- 
tion about his new store-house, and the advice 1 had 
given him. He said that next morning he would pay 
off his old debt, and barter out the balance of his pro- 
ducts for blankets, etc., and then he would make his 
new debt, *'an old hundred this time (meaning a thou- 
sand dollars). I answered that the times had changed. 
That the President had a misunderstanding with the 
British Government, which might end in war, and it 
would be unwise in me to permit him to contract so 
large a debt, and very imprudent in him to do so. He 
remarked that his iriend Tandy Walker was a man of 
property, and would bejhis security lor 'one or two old 
hundreds.' 

THE TWO DREAMS. 

•'1 noticed that Walker was greatly troubled, and was 



« 



The Origin of iU Name, its History, etc. 45 

endeavoring to appear calm. I reiterated that I could 
only let him have $100 worth of credit under existing 
circumstances. But he was not to be put ofTf so readily, 
and entered into an argument to overcome my scruples. 
The sun went down, and the store-house being crowded, 
I told the' chief it was time to prepare for sleep, and we 
would tell each other our dreams in the morning. Bid- 
ding, me good night he led his party off. in a short 
time Walker returned. Leaning over the counter, he 
whispered to me saying : 'I told the chief I bad left my 
knife on your counter, as an excuse to return, and speak 
to you privately. Meet me at the Hanging Rock at 
midnight. Let no one know, for both our lives will be 
in danger.' 

"At midnight 1 went to the 'Hanging Rock,' so-called 
because it projected over the bluff of the river, near the 
old Spanish Fort. Walker then told me in a whisper, 
that the Creeks had determined to join the British in 
the war soon to break out. That the chief of the Black 
Warrior settlement of Creek Indians had proposed to 
him to unite with him in obtaining from me all the 
goods they could possibly obtain ; take his family and 
go with him to Black Warrior Town, and have half in- 
terest in the store, saying, by the time for payment, 
there will be no one to demand it, as the trading-house 
will be one of the first objects of capture, when the war 
begins. 

"Walker said he had been obliged to agree to the 
proposition, but had taken care to impress 0-ce-oche- 
molta with the danger of offending me, as my brother 
was a great war chief, very much' beloved by the Presi- 
dent. We separated in the thicket, and I returned 
home, and went quietly to bed, passing the night with- 
out sleep. There were no troops at St. Stephens at the 
time, and but> few men, not more than six or seven 
white men, all told. 

"Next morning the chief and his warriors, and inter- 
preter, all came smiling in the store. The chief asked 



46 . Tuskaloosiu 

me what I dreamed. I said 1 dreamed there was war. 
That the Eughsh came over in their ships, and engaged 
some of the northern tribes of Indians to help tliem 
fight, but they were soon whipped by the President's 
warriors,* and the English were driven back over the 
Big Water," and that the northern tribes suffered ter- 
ribly in the conflict. What did you dream ? 0-ce-oche- 
motla replied: 'I dreamed that my good friend sold 
me all the goods I wanted for my new store, and I re- 
turned to the falls of the Warrior, with my canoes all 
loaded. I placed the goods in my store, and all ad- 
mired them, and all said Mr. Gaines is a great man, is a 
man of his word, and our chief is a man of but one 
taJk.' 

"1 told the chief I was obliged to believe my own 
dream, and that we would waste no more time in idle 
words. T gave him credit for a hundred dollars as usu- 
al, and he departed next day with his fleet, and that 
was the last I ever saw of him." 

LADY PRISONER AT BLACK WARRIOR. TOWN. 

"Soon after these events. Gen. Wilkinson captured 
the Spanish Forts at Mobile, and thus added the coun- 
try south of Ellicotfs line to the United States. This 
portion of country was claimed by our government as 
part of Louisiana purchase from the French. Rumors 
of the growing bad feeling of the Creek Indians ren- 
dered the settlers on the Mobile and Tombigbee rivers, 
and adjacent new settlements, a good deal uneasy, du- 
ring the year 1812. checking immigration to a gi'eat ex- 
tent. 

"In the fall of 1812, Tandy Walker called at my 
house and told me that he had just learned from a Creek 
Indian, that a white woman had been brought from 
Tennessee as a prisoner to Tuskaloosa Falls (spelled 
with a k) by a party of Creek Indians, returning from a 
visit to the Shawnees on the northern lakes. Mrs. 
Gaines, who was present, suggested to Walker to go and 
attempt her rescue. Walker said he could do so, but it 



The Origin of its Name, its History, etc. 47 

would be at the risk of his life. He said he could walk 
up there on the pretense of paying a visit to his old 
friend 0-ce-oche-motla, and whilst there could obtain a 
canoe, and buy or steal her, and bring her down. Mrs. 
Gaines urged him to undertake the enterprise, and Tan- 
dy Walker, being a brave and generous-hearted man, 
consented. He departed on his mission of mercy, re- 
turning in about two weeks, with the woman in a canoe." 
Mr. Gaines gives these further particulars about the 
captured lady. He says : "She was in bad health. Her 
mind a good deal impaired by suffering. Her limbs in 
a wounded condition, caused by the brush and briars 
she was forced to walk through after her capture by the 
Indians. Mrs. Gaines took charge of her, ordered a 
tepid bath, furnished comfortable clothing, etc. After 
a week's tender nursing, her mind appeared to be re- 
stored. She then related her story. Her name was 
Crawley. She resided in a new settlement near the 
mouth of the Tennessee river. One day, during the 
absence of her husband, a party of Creek Indians came 
to her house, murdered two of her children who were 
playing in the yard, and she had barely time to shut and 
bolt the door, hastily raise a puncheon over a small po- 
tato cellar, and place her two youngest children there, 
before the Indians broke down the door, dragged her 
out of the house, and compelled her to keep up with 
them in their retreat. They compelled her to cook for 
them on the march, but offered her no other violence. — 
She thought she would die after reaching Black War- 
rior Town, and doubtless would have died but for Mr. 
Walker's kindness and humanity, in rescuing her and 
bringing her to St. Stephens, It was several weeks be- 
fore she was able to undertake the journey home. A 
party of gentlemen, friends of mine, were going through 
the wilderness to Tennessee, and consented to lake her 
with them. Col. Haynes and Mr. Malone aided me in 
purchasing saddle and bridle for her, and Mrs. Gaines 
made her comfortable in suitable clothing for the jour- 



48 Ihi^kaloosa, 

ney. When she reached home, she was dehghted to 
find her husband and the two children she had hid in 
the potato cellar, alive. The legislature of Tennessee 
voted money to Tandy Walker for his noble agency in 
the affair." 

I crave the forbearance of the audience for having 
lengthened this paper by transcribing these details ; but 
it appeared to me these were pertinent to my theme, as 
part of the historj^ of Tuskaloosa, and that I would not 
be justified in leaving them out. 

Here is the first white person of whom we have any 
knowledge, who ever lived in Tuskaloosa, and the name 
of her rescuer from the savages, should be handed down 
to posterity, as a hero deserving of our greatest praise. 
There is not a doubt about the truthfulness of the record. 

In 1844 the writer had a brief but pleasant interview 
with Mr. Gaines at his home in Mobile. He was even 
then a white-headed venerable gentleman, of placid and 
courtl}' demeanor, whose face impressed you as the very 
index of truth itself, and we should feel grateful that in 
his latter days he has given us the legacy of these notes. 

We have also to feel grateful, that, thanks to his in- 
fluence with the Choctaws, and other friendly tribes, 
and to his foresight in sending a swift and trusty mes- 
senger through the wilderness to Gov. Blount, at Nash- 
ville, informing him of the intended alliance of the 
Creeks with the British, and his timely suggestion that 
Gen. Jackson (with whom he was personally acquainted) 
should bring his brigade of mounted volunteers at once 
to subdue them, the Creek war was ended in a remark- 
ably short time, and the probable extermination of the 
new settlements of whites in Alabama was prevented. 

COL. CROCKET'S TWO VISITS TO TUSKALOOSA. 

The next historical event, is the destruction of Black 
Warrior Town, as recorded by Col. David Crocket, in 
his life as written by himself, in October, 1813. 

Speaking of Col. Coffee's command, he says : "We 
pushed on till we got to what was called Black Warrior 



The Origin of its Naim^ its History^ etc. 49 

Town, which stood near the very spot where Tuskaloo- 
sa now stands. This Indian town was a large one, but 
when we arrived we found the Indians had all left it. — 
There was a large field of corn standing out, and a pret- 
ty good supply in some cribs. There was also a quanti- 
ty of dried beans, which were very acceptable to us, 
and without delay we secured them, as well as the corn, 
and then burned the town to ashes, after which we left 
the place." (Crocket's Life, p. 83.) 

After peace, in 1815, Crocket again visited Tuskaloo- 
sa (page 128). He says: "We passed through a large 
rich valley, where several other families had settled, and 
continued our course till we came near the place where 
Tuskaloosa now stands. Here we camped, as there were 
no inhabitants, and hobbled out our horses for the 
night. About two hours before day we heard the bells 
of our horses going back the way we had come ; they 
had started to leave us. At daylight I started in pur- 
suit of them on foot, carrying my rifle, which was a very 
heavy one. 

I went ahead all day, wading through creeks and 
swamps, and climbing mountains, butcould not overtake 
the horses. I gave up the pursuit at last, and, from the 
best calculation I could make, had walked over 60 miles. 
Next day I returned on my track till near mid- day, 
when I became sick, and could go no further, and laid 
down in the wilderness. £ome Indians came along. — 
They signed to me that I would die and be bui'ied — a 
thing I was confoundedly afraid of myself. I asked 
how far to any house. They made me understand it 
was a mile and a half. I got up to go, but when I rose 
I realed like a cow with the blind-staggers, or a fellow 
who had taken too many horns. One Indian proposed 
to carry my gun. I gave him half a dollar, and accept- 
ed his offer. We got to the house, by which time I 
was pretty far gone. I was kindly received and put to 
bed. I knew but little that was going on for about two 
weeks, when I began to mend from the treatment of the 



60 Tit^lialoosa, 

woman. She was the wife of Jesse Jones, and she 
thought T would die anyhow, if she didn't do some- 
thing, so she gave me a whole bottle of 'Bateman's 
Draps,' and it threw me into a sweat, and I absolutely 
got well.'' 

SIMULTANEOUS SETTLEMENT OF JONES' VALLEY AND TUSKA- 

LOOSA. 

From 1812 to 1816, peace being established, the 
country settled up with remarkable rapidity. Popula- 
tion from all parts ot the Union poured in, in a contin- 
uous stream, to the beautiful plains and valleys of the 
new land of promise, truthfully so-called ; for, accord- 
ing to the oldest settlers, there never was a more lovely 
country on the face of the earth than this section of 
Alabama presented, before it was scarified for tribute to 
lay at the foot of King Cotton's throne. 

A large part of this immigration (according to Pow- 
ell) came through the county of Blount, and through 
Jones' Valley, in Jefferson county. Indeed it may be 
said that Jones' Valley and the country about Tuska- 
loosa were settled simultaneously. 

On the 21st of April last, I paid a visit to Mr. John 
Smith, in Jones' Valley (the original John, as far as 
this section is concerned), in order to have my 
dates correct for this occasion. He said he was within 
a month of his 80th year. That he came to the Valley 
in 1816, and made his first cfop in 1817. .That others 
had come in 1815, and made their first ci:op in 1816. — 
Others went below and settled at Tuskaloosa. The 
names of those who first settled in Jones' Valley, were 
John Jones (from whom the valley was named), An- 
drew M. Laughlin, Wm. Prude, Willaimson Hawkins, 
Jas. Thompson, Jas. Nations, and Wm. Roupe, from 
whom the lower vallej^ nearest to Tuskaloosa was named 
Roupe's Valley. 

There was another Jones who settled in the valley in 
1816 and made a crop, but he was not the Jones after 
whom the valley was named. His name was Jeremiah 



The Origin of its Name, its History, etc. 51 

Jones, commonly called Jerry, not Jesse as stated by 
Crocket. It was at his house where Col. Crocket was 
sick m 1815, and where he was so mh^aculously cured 
by swallowmg a whole bottle of "Bateman's Draps." — 
Col. Crocket, (who wrote of it later in life) had simply 
confounded their names, from their similarity. 

Mr. Smith states that all the parties named by him 
settled in the valley before the land sale, which was at 
Huntsville in 1819, when the land was put up at auc- 
tion on credit at the minimum price of $2 per acr.e, and 
the sale resulted in some of it bringing as high as $40 
per acre. Some years later another sale was held in 
Huntsville, when most of Roupe's Valley nearest to 
Tuskaloosa was sold. After Mr. Smith's settlement, 
there was no trouble with the Indians ; onl}'' such as 
was the result of the cruelty of the whites towards 
them, which he says was very great, several being kill- 
ed without much investigation — so great, indeed, that 
he has always been astonished that the Indians had not 
killed the whole of the settlers. This was very much 
the case in the vicinity of Tuskaloosa, also, as will be 
seen in due time. 

INCIDENTS — 181 5 —ETC. 

The first settlement of whites at Tuskaloosa falls, 
seems to have been about 1815. Mr. Evans, of the mer- 
cantile firm of Evans & Carman, New York, says that 
when a boy, in that year, he marked and shipped goods 
to a U. S. trading post, at the Black Warrior falls. The 
first settlers in Tuskaloosa proper, in 1816, seem to have 
been Wm. Wilson, Jonathan York, Patrick Scott, Jo- 
siah Tilly, Pleasant H. Bearing, John Barton, John 
Click, Mathew Click and Levin Powell. The first log 
house was built by Wm. Wilson, near where the old 
capitol building now stands, where he also raised his 
first crop of corn. Jonathan York' is said to have built 
the first board-shanty ever erected in the county (see 
Nelson F\ Smith's History of Pickens county, page 75), 
and it must be borne in mind that originally Tuskaloo- 



52 Tv.s'kaloosa^ 

sa county embraced that which is now Pickens county. 
Hiram P. Cochrane arrived in Tuskaloosa on Christmas 
day, 1816. He found here most of the persons named 
above, and it is most Hkely (though he was not born in 
what is now the city) that the first infantile vocal music 
that was ever heard upon the plain of Tuskaloosa, from 
Anglo-Saxon lips, was from the lips of our respected 
fellow-citizen (the son of Hiram), Dr. Wm. A. Cochrane, 
as he was born by the way-side during transit, in the 
wilderness, on the way hither, but was not brought to 
town until early in 1817. 

1 have been unable to find out who was the first child 
actually born on the plain of Tuskaloosa, as the regis- 
tration of such small events was not attended to in those 
days, but I find a record in Smith's History of Pickens 
county of the first marriage, in 1816. It is there re- 
corded that Jonathan York and Josiah Tilly, in 1816. 
married the two daughters of Patrick Scott, in Tuska- 
loosa, and with their young brides removed to Pickens 
county in 1817, and that the blacksmith. John Barton, 
like his prototype at Gretna Green, performed the cer- 
emony. 

It is not a very important event to chronicle, but as 
King Alcohol has ruled here with considerable sway, I 
feel bound to record his advent. The first barrel of ar- 
dent spirits came to the settlement in 1816, in the shape 
of a barrel of Taffey Rum, over which there was great 
rejoicing ; and the first egg-nog ever made in Tuska- 
loosa was to celebrate his arrival, in a log tavern which 
had been built on the corner of what is now, Mr. Mc- 
Lester's lot, just opposite the present Methodist Church. 
On the same site, afterwards, was erected by Col. Hol- 
bert the first frame-tavern, which was afterwards used 
as a school-house, until its removal by Mr. James Ho- 
gan, when he bought the property. The first frame resi- 
dence was built on the margin of what is now the great 
ravine, on Pine street, so long the residence of Mrs. 
Constantine Perkins. It was built by Wm. R. Coigin, 
who sawed the planks, out of the pine-trees, cut down 



The Origm of its Name^ its History^ etc. 53 

within the present corporate limits. The first brick 
house was built by Dr. Jas. G-uild, and is still part of 
the old residence on Broad street. The first sheriff, af- 
ter State organization, was John Smith, in 1819. The 
second was Wm. Y. Glover, in 1822. The third was 
Hiram P. Cochrane, in 1825, who, as before stated, in 
all probability, in the early part of 1817, introduced the 
first Anglo-Saxon baby to the plain of Tuskaloosa. — 
The second named sheriff, in 1822, had a much more 
unpleasant duty to perform, in subtracting from the pop- 
ulation, by executing, for counterfeiting money, Davis, 
who had the honor of being the first man hung in Tus- 
kaloosa. The first child born in the county, as far as 
known, was Thos. Clements, son of Jacob Clements, 
born on Rum Creek, Nov., 1816. The second was James 
Madison Watkins, born near Fiudley's MiU, Kov. 12th. 
1817. 

HISTORIC FACTS — ENDOWMENT OF UNIVERSITY BY THE 
UNITED STATES. 

The Congress of the United States having passed an 
act (March 2d, 1819) to enable the people of Alabama 
Territory to form a constitution and State government, 
in convention at Huntsville, and authorized the election 
of two Representatives from Tuskaloosa county, to meet 
in said convention, Marmaduke Williams aijd John L. 
Tindall were elected and served in said convention. 

Section 6, Article 4, of said act endows munificently 
the University of Alabama, It enacts, that 'thirty-six 
sections, or one entire township, to be designat- 
ed by the Secretary' of the Tr«^asury, under the di- 
rection of the President of the United States, together 
with the one heretofore reserved for that purpose, shall 
be reserved for the use of a seminary of learning, and 
vested in the Legislature of the said State, to be appro- 
priated solely to the use of such seminary by the said 
Legislature. And the Secretary of the Treasury, un- 
der the direction as aforesaid, may reserve the seventy- 
two sections, or two toumships, hereby set apart for the 



54 Tuskaloosa, 

suppoit of a seminary of kurning, in small tracts. Pro- 
vided, that no tract shall consist of less than two sec- 
tions."— [&6' T(m.lminh Digest, Cahawha, Gin ^ Curtis. 
1823, jp. 912.] 

ACTS IN RELATION TO SAME, BY LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA. 

An act to repeal in part, and amend an act, entitled 
"An act supplementary to an act to establish a State 
University," passed Dec. 24th, 1822 

Sec. 1st enacts, That the present board of trustees of 
the. University of Alabama shall continue in office for 
the term of three years from the time of their election, 
and until their successors are elected and qualified. 

Sec. 7ih, That the head of said University shall be 
styled the President ; and the instructors the Professors ; 
and the President and Professors, while they remain 
such, shall not be capable of holding the office of trus- 
tee ; and the President and Professors, or a majority of 
them, shall be styled ''the Faculty of the University," 
etc. 

,,|Sec. 8th, That the title of the lands which this State 
lias received as a donation from the Congress of the 
United States, for a seminary of learning, be, and the 
same is hereby, vested in the said trustees and their suc- 
cessors in office, to be appropriated in the manner here- 
inafter directed, to wit : The said lauds shall be sold 
at public auction, at such times and places as the said 
trustees shall direct, or have by ordinance heretofore 
directed, at a price not less than seventeen dollars per 
acre ; one-fourth part of the purchase money shall be 
paid down at the time of sale ; one-eighth part in one 
year thereafter, with interest, at th^ rate of six per 
cent, per annum ; one-eighth part in two years after 
said sale, with interest as aforesaid ; and the residue of 
the purchase money shall be paid at the expiration of 
eight years after said sale, with interest as aforesaid, 
payable annually, to commence at the day on which the 
third payment shall become due. Provided, that the 
said trustees shall have power to lay off town lots at 



The Origin of its Name, its Histon/, etc. 55 

auy place they shall deem expedient, and to dispose of 
the same, on such terms, and under such regulations, as 
they shall prescribe. Provided, that the said lots, when 
so laid off, shall not sell for a less sum than the mini- 
mum price herein expressed. And each and every pur- 
chaser, moreover, at the time of said purchase, shall ex- 
ecute his bonds, payable to the said trustees and their 
successors in of&ce, conditioned for the true and punctu- 
al payment of the purchase money and interest there- 
on, according to the terms of said sale. 

Sec. 9th, That the said trustees, upon receivhig from 
the purchaser the one-fourth part of the purchase 
money so required, and the bonds conditioned as afore- 
said, duly executed, shall issue to said purchaser, a cer- 
tificate under the seal of the trustees, that the purchase 
of such tract of land has been made by the purchaser, 
that he has paid one-fourth part of the purchase money, 
and that he has given bonds, according to law, and de- 
claring that upon the punctual payment of each and 
every one of the remaining instalments, with the inter- 
est thereon, they will convey such tract of land to such 
purchaser, his heirs or assigns, etc. 

Sec. 10th, That should any purchaser of any tract of 
land as aforesaid, the heirs or the assigns of such pur- 
chaser, fail to make punctual payment of the amount of 
principal and interest, or of interest which may become 
due on said tract of land, the said tract of land shall be 
absolutely forfeited to the said trustees, with the money 
paid thereon ; and the said trustees may, and they are 
hereby authorized, after the expiration from the time of 
said forfeiture, to dispossess any person or persons who 
may be in posession of such tract of land by the writ 
of unlawful detainer, saving in every case of a forfeiture 
the growing crop to the occupant^ etc. 

Sec. 11th, That at the expiration of the credit, or 
within three months thereafter, herein before prescrib- 
ed upon the sales of said lands, the purchaser, his heirs 
or assigns, shall have the right, upon the payment of all 



56 Tuskaluosa, 

iuterest then due upon said purchase, to convert said 
purchase into a lease for ninty-nine years, renewable 
forever, upcyi condition that the lessee, his heir, execu- 
tors, administrators, or assigns, shall pay to the said 
trustees interest at six per cent, per annum, upon the 
amount of the original purchase money, due at the 
time of converting said sale into a lease. 

Sec. 13th, That the said trustees shall forever have 
the right to distrain any personal estate belonging to 
the lessee, his heirs, assigns, or the tenant in possession 
of any tract of land so leased, for the payment of the 
interest as it shall become due, on said lease, in such 
manner as shall be prescribed by law ; and the personal 
estate of the lessee, his heirs and assigns and the tenant 
in posession, shall always be liable in preference of oth- 
er debts, for the interest due cm said lease, and upon a 
failure of payment of the whole, or any part of the in- 
terest due on said lease, upon a distringas, for that pur- 
pose to be issued, the lessee, his heirs, or assigns, shall 
forfeit all right and interest in and to the land so leased, 
together with all sums of money which may have been 
paid for the purchase and lease of the same ; and all 
lands thus forfeited shall be sold by the trustees to the 
highest bidder, at public auction, for ready money, two 
months' public notice being first given of the time and 
place of such sale, and after paying the amount due on 
original purchase, and interest due at time of sale, with 
sill costs and expenses of sale, the remainder, if any, 
shall be paid to the lessee, his heirs, executors, admin- 
istrators, or assigns, who may be entitled to receive the 
same. Provided, that all land forfeited by a failure of 
the payment of either the purchase money or interest, 
shall never be sold for a less sum than is due and un- 
paid on said land, agreeble to the terms of the original 
sale or lease (as the case may be), and all forfeited lands 
which may be offered for sale, and shall not bring the 
^mount due on account of the purchase money and in- 
terest, shall forever remain the property of the trustees. 



The Origin of ita Nct/Me^ its History^ etc. 57 

and their successors in office, subject to the same rules 
and regulations as other lands belonging to the State 
University. — [Toulmin's Digest, pp. 561, 2, 3, 4 and 5.] 
I have condensed and copied the above in order to 
place in the hands of the friends of the University of 
Alabama, and of honesty and fair dealing anywhere, 
the fact that this institution is not an eleemosynary body, 
living on the bounty of the State. That she was en- 
dowed with a magnificent inheritance by the Govern- 
ment of the United States, ample for all purposes, when 
she and her twin sister ''the State" came into existence, 
and to assert also the fact that the latter, by being a 
trifle the oldest, became the Guardian and Trustee of her 
younger sister, and by means of riotous living, and 
improper disposition of the effects of her said younger 
sister's estate, and neglect of the trust, has squandered 
and in violation of law has allowed others to waste the 
inheritance. It is estimated that nine-tenths of this 
grand endowment, has been illegally squandered by the 
trustee, or lost by his permitting the "Wooden-horse," 
of culpable inertia and lisk, to enter what should have 
been his sacred Troy, through the portals of sections 
8th and 11 th of the above quoted acts of his State. — 
The bonds referred to having been in but few cases com- 
plied with, and illegal extensions granted, the right of 
the University to these lands to-day can hardly be 
questioned, or redmmation on the trustee for an equiva- 
lent. 

CONGRESSIONAL GRANT TO TDSKALOOSA (SPEtLED WITH A k), 
MAY 26tH, 1824. 

Sec. 1, That the right and title of the United States to 
the public streets, and to certa,in lots in the town of Tuska^ 
loosa set apart for public uses, and designated in the 
plan of said town by the name of the "Court-Square,'' 
the "Market-Square," the "Jail Lot," the ''Spring," the 
"Church," and the "Burial-Grround," be, and the same 
is hereby vested in the corporation of said town for- 
ever ; and also all the right of the United States to the 



68 Ihushaloosa, 

tract between the lots and the river Tuskaloosa, called 
the "River-margin," and that called the '*Pond," and 
also that called the "Common," on condition, however, 
that the corporation shall not lease or sell any portion 
of the last mentioned tracts, but that the same shall be 
appropriated to the purposes for which they were desig- 
nated and set apart, as well to the inhabitants of said 
town as that of those resorting to or visiting the same, 
and, in case the same or any part thereof be applied to 
any other purpose, that it shall revert to the United 
States. 

Territorial Act, Feb. 7th, 1818, fixes lines and 
bounds of county, and decrees it shall be known as Tus- 
kaloosa County. (Digest, p 86). 

State Act, Dec. 13th, 1819, incorporates town of 
Tuskaloosa, (changed afterwards to city). (Digest, p. 
803). 

State Act, Nov. 27th, 1821, appoints commissioners 
to fix site for public buildings for county, and makes 
Tuskaloosa the seat of justice pro tern. 

State Act, Dec. 31st, 1822, authorizes road laid ofif 
trom Lime Creek to Tuskaloosa. (Digest, p. 423). 

State Act, Jan. 1st, 1823, authorizes opening road 
from south end of Market Street. I^uskaloosa. (Digest, 
p. 423). 

State Act, Dec. 11th, 1820, authorizes lottery for 
benefit of Rising Virtue Lodge, Tuskaloosa. (Digest, p. 
581.) 

LONGEVITY AND PEACEFULNESS. 

There are now living in Tuskaloosa and its vicinity, 
over 60 persons who have lived here more than half a 
century, most of whom removed to this place in early 
life. This, in a population of less than two thousand, 
shows that our climate is favorable to longevity. It 
would be improper to mention names, as many are ro- 
bust men who may wish to marry again. To show that men 
can live here in peace who try, I will record as follows : 

In 1818 Mr. Wm. M. Crump settled. 20 miles from 



. The Origin of its Name^ its History^ etc. 59 

here on North river. His son, Wm. M. Crump, Jr., told the 
writer, May 6th, 1876, that he was born in Elbert coun- 
ty, Georgia, and removed with his father to Tuskaloosa 
count}'' in 1818. That he has now lived 55 years at the 
same place, and is in his 67th year. He never had a 
law-suit in the Slate or county courts ; never struck a 
man in anger, and never ran off from a man who was 
angry with him ; never contracted a debt without pay- 
ing it ; had acquired a good propei"ty before the civil 
war, but, like others, lost it ; never studied politics, but 
always voted the Democratic ticket. 

HOSPITALITY REJECTED — BUT HORSES IMPRESSED. 

In 1818 or '19, as Gen. Jackson was returning from 
Plorida,with a large force, it is said that they encamped at 
Carthage (17 miles from here), and that this incident took 
place : A. number of the settlers at Tuskaloosa thought 
it was their duty to pay the old hero some attention ; 
and they mustered all the horses they could and rode 
down to Carthage, and tendered the hospitality of Tus- 
kaloosa. The General asked how many could be enter- 
tained. They answered that they thought they could 
entertain himself and staff. He replied, with an old 
hickory oath : ''By the Eternal, gentlemen, neither I 
nor my staff ever go where all my men cannot be en- 
tertained." They felt cut, and prepared to return, but 
found, to their dismay, that all their horses had been 
impressed. They returned to '"Old Hickory" to get 
their horses released, but were struck dumb when he 
told them that his "impre:^sing officer" knew his duty, 
and had done it ; that it was much easier for them to 
walk back to Tuskaloosa, on an established trail, than 
for his men to walk bare-footed and bleeding through 
the wilderness to Tennessee. They had to walk back to 
Tuskaloosa without their horses, many of which had 
been borrowed for the occasion. 

MASONIC AND ODD FELLOWS LODGES ESTABLISHED. 

In 1819, Rising Virtue Lodge No. 30, of Free and 
Accepted Masons, was establi.^hed in Tuskaloosa, under 



60 Tuskaloosa, 

a dispensation granted by the G-rand Master of Tennes- 
see, on August 2d, in the year of Masonery 5819, and 
of our Lord 1819 this being at that time .Mississippi 
Territory, and therefore had no Grand Lodge within it. 
On July 2d, 1821, however, the Lodge held its first ses- 
sion, as Rising Virtue Lodge No. 4, under a charter 
from the Grand Lodge of Alabama, the organization of 
the State government resulting, also, in a Grand Lodge 
being organized. The charter members were John J. 
Inge, John M. Shelman, Constantine Perkins, and oth- 
ers. John J. Inge was appointed Master, John M. 
Shelman Senior Warden, and Constantine Perkins Jun- 
ior Warden. Tuskaloosa LodgeNo. 7, I. 0. 0. F., was 
organized under charter of the Grand Lodge of Alaba- 
ma, February 21st, 1845. The charter was granted to 
John McCormick, Thos. Maxwell, Thos. Cummins, Sr.. 
Geo. D. Purcell, and Wm. Miller. 

It is impossible to foresee when and how a simple 
record like this may be of service. As an instance, I 
would mention that the seeking up of the date of the or- 
ganization of the Masonic Lodge for this occasion has 
led to the finding of an old record-book, which had 
been lost for years, and within a week has enabled the 
lodge to answer, in a satisfactory manner, questions 
which had been asked by a lodge in Missouri, so as to 
relieve an ancient brother in distress. The Missouri 
Lodge stated that an old man over 80 years of age, and 
his wife, also of great age, in indigent circumstances 
and needing help, were in their vicinity. That the old 
man claimed to have been made a Mason in Tuskaloosa, 
Ala., in 1825, and that his name was Boucher — and if 
they could be satisfied his statements were correct, they 
were ready to render the aid due to a brother in dis- 
tress. The finding of this old record (which had been 
lost during the war), settled the question satisfactorily, 
so that the parties will be relieved. It enabled Dr. 
Guild, also, to recall him to mind perfectly, as a Methodist 
circuit rider of that early day, who was initiated in 1825. 



The Origin of its Name, its History, etc. 61 

A TRIBUTE TO AFRICA. 

Believing with Alexander Pope that 

"Honor and shame from no condition rise, 
Act well your part, there all the honor lies," 

I think it right to mention, with due meed of praise, 
George Shortridge, an old negro man, who was one of 
the first settlers of Tuskaloosa. I knew him well as 
one of the most trust-worthy and honest men I ever 
knew, and I had him employed for years, where he was 
entrusted with thousands. He was brought to Tuskaloo- 
sa as a slave by Mr. James Penn, early in 1818, and he 
used to tell me that while I was a child in England just 
learning to talk, he was busily employed preparing a 
home forme in Tuskaloosa. That he cut down the timber 
and cleared the ground on the identical spot where my 
house now stands. 

KILLING INDIANS UPON A FALSE RUMOR — AND AN AMAZON 
WHO WOULD NOT BE IMPRESSED. 

I am indebted to Mr, John C. Foster for Ihe follow- 
ing : In September, 1818, a rumor was spread through 
the country, and in Tuskaloosa, that a band of Indians 
passing through had murdered a family named Hall, in 
the southern part of this county, or in the upper edge of 
Greene. The citizens, in terrible excitement, gathered 
from every direction to organize for pursuit. Pressing 
officer Bacon (a brother to Mr. Spotswood Bacon) seized 
the horses of citizens who came to town, and Col. Penn 
went to the tavern of Col. Chas. Lewin (a hewed log- 
house then newly built) to seize the horses (20 or 25) of 
travelers and others. Mrs. Lewin met him at the door, 
and, having learned his business, forbade his entrance 
at the peril of his life. He persisted, and she struck 
him with a chair, broke his collar-bone, knocked him 
down, and seizing a pistol took her stand at the horse- 
lot gate, and said she would kill the first man that en- 
tered. 

Horses and arms being procured, the party proceeded 
down the St. Stephens road (now called the Greensboro' 



62 TushaloQsa^ 

road) in pursuit. They went down nearly to Big Sandy 
Creek, and there heard that the Indians had gone in to- 
wards the river, at what is now the writer's plantation. 
Still pursuing, they heard that the Indians had crossed 
the river, at what is called the gun- chute. They also 
crossed the river, and followed the trail to the Indians' 
camp, about two and a half miles beyond. On approach- 
ing the camp, they saw smoke, and slipped up cautious- 
ly and fired a volley into the camp, killing and wound- 
ing two or three sleeping squaws and children. The 
Indian men were all out hunting on beech ridge, and 
when they returned were surprised to find their women 
and children had been attacked, as they were only peace- 
fully passing through the country. The Indian hunts- 
men, hearing the firing of guns, hurried back to camp, 
where they and the white men exchanged two or three 
rounds without effect, when both parties retired rapidly 
in opposite directions. Next day the whites returned 
to look after the missing, and found one man dead, whom 
they buried on the spot, and another badly wounded, 
whom they brought to Tuskaloosa, where he died in a 
few days. These had been shot by their own party, in 
firing, during the excitement of the attack on the camp, 
in irregular line. 

I have written it here to show what sort of amazonian 
women the frontiers-women were, and also how little 
mercy was shown to the red men. whose country the 
white race was appropriating. 

I may mention, also, that the recollection of what was 
said afterwards of that event in 1821, by the Hon. 
Washington Moody (whose father brought him to this 
town as a boy, New Year's Day, 1821) is, that these In- 
dians were still pursued by other parties, to Sipe}^ 
Swamp, and that their principal man Spotted Chief, was 
killed. Mr. Foster does not mention this in his notes. 

STKUGGLE FOR SUPREMACY BETWEEN NEWTOWN AND 
TUSKALOOSA. 

In about] 81 9 or '20, Col. Ely ton (from whom the 



The Origin of its Name, its History, etc. 63 

town of Elyton, Jefferson county, was named) located, 
as agent of the "Hartford Deaf and Dumb Asylum,'' a 
portion of the grant to that institution by tht^ United 
States, on the plain on which Newtown stands. This 
plain was afterwards purchased from the Asylum by a 
company of gentlemen, consisting of Major Marr, Ma- 
jor LI. Perkins, Charles Lewin and others, and laid out 
into town lots, and alternate lots were sold on condition 
that the purchaser should build thereon within a limited 
time. The conditions were considered so onerous as to 
induce a petition to the government to lay off into lots 
the present site of Tuskaloosa, and sell without condi- 
tions, at the regular land sale This was done in 1821, 
and as soon as the lots were sold buildings began to be 
rapidly erected, and settlers to pour in ; and thus Tus- 
kaloosa, in her corporate capacity, swallowed up her ri- 
val Newtown, and took the lead in every contest for 
supremacy ; and finally even the Court-House was re- 
moved from Newtown to Tuskaloosa, in 1827, by vote 
of the people. 

REMOVAL OF CAPITAL TO TUSKALOOSA, STATE BANK, ETC. 

In 1826, the seat of government was removed from 
Cahawba to Tuskaloosa, and with it the State Bank, the 
legislature of 1825 having permanently located the seat 
of government at Tusknloosa, as was then believed. At 
first the Bank was situated, and transacted its business, 
in what is now the "Bee Hive Store," where the writer, 
several years ago, dug up its vaults. Afterwards it was 
in what is now the residence of Mr. J. H. Fitts. The 
first session of the legislature held in Tuskaloosa was in 
the fall of 1826, in a house (now burnt down) then 
known as the Davis' house, on the corner west of what 
is now Mrs. Lynch's Broadway Hotel, the capitol not 
yet being built. When the corner-stone of the capitol 
was laid a cannon was fired, and the man who fired it 
off wanted to sit astride of it, but was prevented. This 
saved his life, for the gun burst into hundreds of pieces. 
These pieces were afterwards walled into the building. 



64 Ttiskaloosa^ 

DR. GUILD AND THE PANTHER. 

I am indebted to Dr. James Guild for the following 
statement, and I insert it here because it shows precise- 
ly what was the general character of the country at the 
time of this adventure. Dr. Guild came to Tuskaloosa 
in 1821. At that time there was a dense cane-brake 
surrounding the place clear up to the limits of the 
town. This was filled with game, so that a man had 
hardly to go a few hundred yards from home to get all 
the game he wanted. In 1821, he remembers distinct- 
ly, that they hunted for bear close to the town, and that 
on one occasion an old he-bear was hunted until he 
came into town, and was killed precisely on the spot 
where the market-house now stands. In July, 1821 , Dr. 
Guild was called to see a negro woman who was sick, at 
the place of Mr. John S. Bealle, beyond what is now 
called P'oster's Ferry (but there was not much of a fer- 
ry there then), and he had to return by moon-light. — • 
When he had got on this side of the river, coming on 
towards town on an Indian trail, (for there were no 
roads at the time) his horse became unmanageable, and 
would not advance. In the moon-light he saw in the 
centre of the trail what he took to be a large white dog, 
seated right in his track. He whipped his horse but he 
would not advance. After many efforts, the horse still 
refusing to advance, he hallooed at what he supposed to 
be the dog, but he did not move. At last he put spurs 
and whip to the horse, and passed the brute on the trail, 
who, by that time, had mounted a log which lay along 
the track, and as he passed it he saw it was a large pan- 
ther, which glared at him with eyes of fire, seated upon 
the log, with his long tail beating angrily on the log as 
he passed. The doctor says he made the fastest time to 
Tuskaloosa, after that, that he ever made in his life. 

On another occasion, he went out hunting near town, 
with Rev. Mr, Cannon, the minister of the Methodist 
Church, who was fond of it for recreation, and had the 
luck to shoot and kill two deer at one shot, though he 



The Origin of its Name, its History^ etc. 65 

only saw and fired at one. They happened both to be 
within range of his U. S. musket, and though he saw 
but one he found, to his astonishment, that he had killed 
two large deer at one shot, and this was close to town, 
in what is known as "Bear Heaven.'' 

Mr. John C. Foster told the writer, also, that his 
father killed a panther on Grant's Creek, that measured 
9 feet from the point of its nose to the tip of its tail. 

REMOVAL OF THE CREEK INDIANS. 

In 1835-6, the last of the Indian tribes were remtrved 
from Alabama. In 1835, a large portion of the Creeks, 
'from beyond the Coosa river, removed through Tuska- 
Idosa, on their way to their new reservation in Arkan- 
sas, and were encamped here for some time, accompani- 
ed by Apoth-le-oholo, a chief of great distinction, being 
both prophet and chief, and who is said to have been a 
man of great eloquence. Apoth-le-oholo, while here, 
never pretended to be satisfied with the removal of his 
people, but admitted that he only removed from impera- 
tive necessity, and before leaving Tuskaloosa, he declar- 
ed that he felt that he was no longer chief, and he tore 
off his wampum war-belt, as a bauble for which he had 
no further us?. The writer bought it in 1838, for twen- 
ty-five dollars, and in 1848 gave it to a friend in Eng- 
land, who now has it in his cabinet of curiosities. 

REMOVAL OF THE CAPITOL TO AND FROM TUSKALOOSA. 

The Capitol, as we have seen, was removed to Tuska- 
loosa in 1826. It was removed to Montgomery in 1846, 
having been here for twenty years, and was said to have 
been removed from here mainly because of the inferior 
quality of our hotel accommodations at the time. 

LOG CABIN CONVENTION IN TUSKaLOOSA. 

In June, 1840, when Gen. Harrison had been nomi- 
nated for the Presidency, and Tuskaloosa had been se- 
lected by the Whig party of Alabama as the place for 
holding the State convention, an enormous log cabin 
was erected, on the lot on the east side of Market Street, 



66 Duskaloosa, 

directly opposite what is now Mr. McLester's residence, 
capable of holding several thousand people. 

Judge A. F. Hopkins was President of the convention. 
The whole Whig party throughout the State had been 
aroused to the highest hope of success and excitement, 
by the use of political catch-words, attractive to the 
masses of the people, in imitation of the Democrats^, 
who had succeeded by the use of similar means. 

These words had been paraded in campaign docu- 
ments, and spread broadcast over the land. They set 
forth that Gen. Harrison was the poor man's candidate, 
who lived in a log cabin, and kept constantly just insii^e 
his door a barrel of hard cider for his friends — 'and the 
string of whose latch was never pulled in. That he was 
the hero of the battle of Tippecanoe, and the political 
rhymsters of the day rang the refrain on every breeze 
— ''Tippecanoe and Tyler too,^' until the whole country 
was wild with enthusiasm, and his election secured. 

Never was there such a gathering in Tuskaloosa be- 
fore or since. It was estimated that ten thousand visi- 
tors came to the city from all parts of Alabama. When 
the delegation from North Alabama approached the 
city, they were met at the University grounds by the 
entire population and visitors on foot, who, in proces- 
sion, escorted them into the city, accompanied by bands 
of music and banners covered .with the devices of the 
party. At the head of the Huntsville delegation came 
(in a large canoe on wheels) as many young virgins as 
represented each State then in the Union, each robed 
in white, and each with sash and rosette, wearing the 
name and emblem of the State she represented. The 
entire community vied with each other, without regard 
to party, in entertaining the guests. One firm, where 
the partners stood on opposite sides politically, contrib- 
uted to refresh the procession in its march, twenty -five 
barrels of hard cider, converted into stone-fence by 
having two gallons of best brandy and one of molasses put 
into each barrel, besides half a wagon-load of choice 



The Origin of its Name, its History, etc. 67 

Tennessee hams. This is recorded to show the spirit of 
liberality that prevailed. 

ALABAMA INSANE HOSPITAL. 

The Alabama Insane Hospital (thanks to the exer- 
tions of that benefactress of her race, the honored Miss 
Dix) was called into existence, and located at Tuska- 
loosa by an act of the Legislature of 1852, and not- 
withstanding the war cut off all appropriations for its 
support, the institution managed to make itself self-sup- 
porting during the war from 1801 to 1865, under the 
control of the "right man in the right place" — Dr. Peter 
Bryce, the Superintendent. It now contains 375 pa- 
tients, receiving the benificent care of the State, and is 
nearly the only monument we have left which should 
excite the just pride of ever}' citizen of Alabama. 

UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA. 

In 1831, the University of Alabama was located at 
Tuskaloosa, in pursuance of an act of the Legislature pass- 
ed some years before, and it was opened for students 
April 16th, 1831. It was endowed as a seminary of 
learning by the government of the United States, with 
certain grants of lands, the State of Alabama, through 
its Legislators, being made trustee, for the faithful per- 
formance of the trust. Fidelity to this engagement or 
trust, would make this institution one of the best en- 
dowed in the United States, as it would now amount to 
the neighborhood of a million and a half of dollars. — 
In 1865, its buildings and library were burnt by the 
raiders of Gen. Croxton, in the civil war, who declared 
that they acted under orders from higher authority, 
though for what object, in a strategic or other point of 
view, it is impossible to conceive. The library contain- 
ed thirty thousand volumes, some of them the rarest 
books in the world — many of them the gift of foreign 
governments and colleges, that can never be replaced. 
Such works, except by vandals, are considered the prop- 
erty of mankind at large, and not of a State or even a 
league of States, and even in war are held to be sacred. 



68 Ihiskaloosa^ 

for the benefit of the whole race of man, and to con- 
template this destruction should make every American 
blush with shame, until it is replaced, as far as possible 
by the Federal government. . 

FEMALE SEMINARIES IN TUSKALOOSA. 

Besides the University for young men, since 1831 
Tuskaloosa, on account of its healthfulness, has been 
the centre of education for the softer sex for a very 
large area of country, especially during the exciting 
period when the landy were fresh and cotton was king. 
Most of the large planters during this period, whose 
plantations were in South Alabama, Louisiana and Mis- 
sissippi, had their daughters educated in some one of 
the seminaries then justly in great repute ; either at the 
Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, or Episcopal establish- 
ments These have all stood deservedly high, and have 
had a refining influence on the society of the city, so 
that Tuskaloosa has been known throughout the coun- 
try as the "Athens of the South." 

GENERAL REMARKS ON POPULATION AND IMPROVEMENTS.' 

The population of Tuskaloosa, in numbers, has not 
materially changed in 30 or 40 years. The removal of 
the seat of government to Montgomery detracted some 
from its prosperity, which has been partially ofifsetted 
by new manufacturing enterprises. Had Tuskaloosa 
been even as accessible in 1846 as it is to-day by rail, 
doubtless the capitol would never have been removed. 
Should the original design of the projectors of the 
"Nprth-East and South- West Alabama Railroad" ever 
be com|)leted by air line from Meridian to New Orleans 
— a design indicated bv the baptismal name of their 
road, and which she appropriately wore until those un- 
holy bonds which gave her the name of the "Alabama 
and Chattanooga Railroad" — then uniting as she would 
the commercial emporiums of the North and South 
with "iron nerves," she would place Tuskaloosa on the 
most direct through line of a nation's progress, and our 
commercial and manufacturing redemption might begin. 



The Origin of its Name, its History, etc. 69 

If the citizens of Tuskaloosa will see to it that a]l ob- 
structions are removed from the meandering curves of 
the classic stream which murmurs by their door, luDing 
their aged ones to rest by its never-ending song, and 
washing, with its limpid wave, the feet of the beloved 
Alma Mater of so many of Alabama's sons,- then their 
beautiful "City of Oaks*' may become what nature in- 
tended her to be — the gate-way of a mighty commerce, 
and the work-shop of an iron world. 

INDIAN RELICS IN OUR MIDST — THE CARTHAGE MODNDS, ETC. 

It may be permitted, as being cognate to our subject? 
to give some account of the monuments lelt here by 
the race which preceded us. These are scattered all 
over the face of the country, in the shape of mounds, 
and some of them are in our immediate vicinity. Some 
are at Carthage, 17 miles south of us. These I visited 
for the first time 36 years ago. They were then about 
15 in number, ^ince then some have been plowed 
down, so as to.be scarcely visible. The larger ones are 
still there, and objects of great interest. The largest 
one is about 80 feet high on the side next to the War- 
rior river, and on its summit are some of the largest 
trees of the forest. In 1840 I measured some of the 
oaks upon it that were over 9 feet in circumference. At 
that time I spent several days digging into the surface 
of this mound, until the neighbors thought I was de- 
mented. I found a large mass of broken pottery, ar- 
row-heads of flint, hatchets of flint, and burnt clay mixed 
with pebbles and charcoal. kSome pieces of pottery re- 
sembled the soup-plates now in common use, only much 
larger, being about 18 inches in diameter. Some were 
oblong. One of these had a rim as broad as my hand, 
upon which were various characters, which, not having 
the ability of Champolleon, I could not decipher. The 
burnt clay and other evidence of fire, for several feet in 
depth, naturally led me to infer that the surface had 
been used in ages past as a place of sacrifice, and prob- 
ably of human beings, as Cortez found the Mexicans 



70 Tuskaloosa, 

doing in the days of Montezuma, but I found no bones 
mixed with the material, though large quantities were 
about the base of the pyramid. 

At length, after many days of toil, my perseverance 
was rewarded. A lady of the neighborhood who heard 
of the infatuation, sent me a beautiful vase which some 
time before had been found on or about the largest 
mound, and when found it was filled with human bones. 
This was a prize indeed, and I have never parted with 
it to this day. I was a young man then, and it was a 
young lady who presented it. 

A GIANT FOUND. 

Not far from this mound, only 10 years ago, in 1866, 
the skeleton of a giant was found, the particulars of 
which were given me only ten days ago by the gentle- 
man who found it, as follows : 

Mr. Hezekiah K. Powell, says that in December, 1866, 
he was in Carthage on sheriff's duty, and found, just 
south of the large mound, on the plantation of Mrs. 
Prince, the skeleton of a man that measured 9 feet 
from head to heel as he lay in the ground — several phy- 
sicians being present who arranged and examined the 
bones. Around the skeleton's neck, were three strands 
of beads, made of shells. Not the muscle or other 
shells of our rivers, but sea-shells, which were perfo- 
rated so as to be strung together, and were re-strung, a 
yard in length, after finding them, by the little son of 
Mr. Theoron Brown. Two circular stones, 8 inches in 
diameter, were found beneath the headof the skeleton, and 
on the top of these, as a pillow for his head, another 
fitone about 20 inches long and 10 inches wide. These 
circular stones were ornamented with notches cut 
around the circle, and a mark within it, done with great 
precision ; the flat rock the same. The kind of stone 
was such as is found along North river, but of which 
there is none in the vicinity of Carthage. Alongside 
the giant were other skeletons not more than five feet 
in length, but the one having the stones beneath his 



The Origin of its Name, its History, etc. 71 

head was a giant, and his thigh bones were equal to 
those of a horse. The Carthage mounds have been sur- 
rounded with an earth-work embankment or fortifica- 
tion, running irregularly so as to enclose all the mounds, 
except on the side next the Warrior river, which seemed 
as though the river om that side was considered a suffi- 
cient defense ; or else similar breast-works, which are 
on the other side of the river, accomplished the defense 
on that side, and left the river free for use from both 
sides of it, in the centre of the position, so to speak. — 
One remarkable fact he noticed, that all th? ^ikeletons 
who had been buried on the inside of the breast-works 
were small men, with, the one exception, and were buried 
with the head towards the embankment; while those 
on the outside (with their feet towards the earth-work) 
were large men, indicating as he thought the relative po- 
sition in which they fell, or that the attacking party were 
of a larger race than those who fell within the enclosure. 

I copied the above from the lips of Mr. Powell, and 
last week went down to Carthage, in the hope that I 
might get this giant skeleton to produce on this occa- 
sion, but found tliat I was too late ; that another anti- 
quarian gentlemen had obtained the skeleton, (Mr. 
Force), and had taken it to the Smithsonian Institute 
at Washington, some 3 or 4 years since. 

My conviction is, that the high grade of military en- 
gineering skill displayed by the mound-builders at Car- 
thage attests a knowledge of the necessities of attack 
and defense unknown to the mode of warfare practiced 
by the tribes found here by DeSoto. The mounds also 
which I have seen in Ohio, and the recent discovery by 
Dr. Foster of woven cloth found therein, showing that 
the art of spinning and weaving was known to the build- 
ers, proves beyond a doubt that a more civilized race 
than the Indians ibund here by the Spaniards have oc- 
cupied this continent in the ages that are gone. 

THE MOUND-BUILDERS. 

Who were the mound-builders it is impossible posi- 



72 Tuskaloosa^ 

tively to determine. They were not built by the ances- 
tors of the tribes found here by DeSoto, as they pre- 
tended to no knowledge of their construction tradition- 
al or otherwise. The only tradition they had or have, 
is that their fore-fathers found the mounds here when 
they emigrated from the Mexican Empire to the east of 
the Mississippi river, exterminated the ancient inhabi- 
tants and appropriated the country, so that we are com- 
pelled to go back to remote ages for the only reason- 
able solution. 

Prescott says (vol. 2, pp. 388 and 391) that "the an- 
cient Aztecs, long before the days of Montezuma, had a 
tradition, that when they entered the Mexican valley 
they found similar mounds," containing just the same 
kind of materials as I found in those at Carthage, and 
that "two of the largest had been dedicated to the wor- 
ship of the sun and moon, while the smaller ones 
(which, like those at Carthage, were in close proximity) 
were dedicated to the worship of the stars, and served 
as sepulchres for the great men of the nation besides ; 
and that the plain on which they stood w^as called 'Mi- 
coatr or 'The path of the Dead,' " and he adds that 
"now, when the laborer turns up the ground, he still 
finds numerous arrow-heads and blades of obsidian, 
which attest the war-like character of its primitive pop- 
ulation," 

It is remarkable that this description of ancient 
mounds in the heart of the Mexican Empire should be 
almost a fac-simile description of the mounds at Car- 
thage in every particular, as well in their position to 
each other as in their being literally "the path of the 
dead," and in the items found in and around them.^- 
Some of these give great force to the idea that the 
mound-builders were intimately connected (in very re- 
mote ages) with the Aztec races of Mexico, as these 
sculptured specimens in stone, found about the mounds 
at Carthage, will show Some of them prove, indeed, 
that with the mound-builders the "art spirit" had ad- 



The Origin of its Name, iU History^ etc. 73 

vanced beyond the first lispings of nature, and all of 
them have combined the culture of that spirit with that 
^of utility in a remarkable degree. 

AN AZTEC MAN IN STONE. 

Here is a specimen, cut in stone, of a man possessing 
clearly the form of the Aztec head, and the Aztec type 
of face — the retreating fore-head, the elongated and 
protruding nose and mouth, peculiar to that race, all 
clearly defined. He is in a kneeling attitude, and holds 
between his knees, supported by his hands, the bowl of 
a pipe for smoking. The aperture for the stem is be- 
tween his knees. It is easily seen that the artist was 
depicting a mm of a different type entirely from the 
Indians found in the country. This image, kneeling as 
he is, measures 6 inches high by 4 inches across. 

A PANTHER CROUCHING FOR A SPRING. 

Here is another specimen of sculpture found at Car- 
thage, of a tiger or panther crouching in the attitude 
ready for a spring upon its prey The lines are all ad- 
mirably drawn, and the body of the aminal is tastefully 
ornamented with stripes. The attitude is perfect, and 
the lineaments of form and face are perfect. The ex- 
pression of the aminal's face, with its mouth and teeth 
perfectly represented, are as good as any artist could 
represent at the present day. This also has been 
utilized as a pipe for smoking, the body of the animal 
holding the bowl of the pipe, and its tail used as the 
stem. It is 4 and a half inches by 3 inches. 

THE LION COUCHANT. 

Here is the American lion couchant, an animal with- 
out a mane, as accurately defined as any found by 
Stephens in South America, or as seen on any plate of 
heraldry in Europe, the only difference being that the 
mound-builders utilized it as a pipe for smoking, as I 
suppose on great state occasions — the back of the ani- 
mal being used as the bowl of the pipe, and its caudal 
appendage as the stem. This specimen is 7 inches by 3 2- 



74 Tuskaloosa^ 

All these three specimens of ancient sculpture were 
found at the mounds of Carthage, on the plantation of 
Mrs. Prince, to whom I am indebted for their exhibi- 
tion to-night. 

OTHER MOUNDS, PIPES, ETC 

There are other mounds in the vicinity of Tuskaloosa. 
There is one on the writer's plantation, 9 miles from 
here, from which stone skillets and pipes have been ob- 
tained, but evidently of modern construction, and the 
work of the recent Indians. 

There was one such mound within the city limits, un- 
til removed by the city authorities about 50 years ago. 
It stood on the vacant ground opposite the present resi- 
dence of Mrs. L. V B. Martin. Without doubt the In- 
dians used these mounds both as sepulchres and for war 
purposes. This is evident from the quantities of bones 

and arrow-heads found about them. 

r 

THE INDIAN VASE. 

We have already noticed the similarity of, custom of 
the Choctaws and Chickasaws, as related by Mr. Gaines, 
in gathering the bones of their dead into a box, and de- 
positing it in their ancestral burial place, and that of 
the Greeks, who put only the ashes of their friends (af- 
ter cremation) into costly vases. These mounds at Car- 
thage furnish a still more striking co-incidence, as we 
shall now proceed to show.. 

Here is a so-called Indian vase, from the large mound 
at Carthage, obtained, as stated, in 1840. It is in per- 
fect preservation, and is as graceful iii form as any 
work of the present day, even that which is done at the 
Staffordshire potteries, or that of the ancients who have 
furnished even Staffordshire with all the most elegant pat- 
terns. It very much resembles the water ewers now in 
use, and when first made must have been quite beauti- 
ful, as it has been ornamented with a variety of colors, 
artistically burnt into the clay, and when found it was 
filled with human bones — thus making the Grecian co- 
incidence complete. 



The Origin of its Name^ its History^ etc. 75 

Some remarks of Mr. Sam'l Osgood on vases, on pre- 
senting a beautiful vase to the venerable poet, Wm. C. 
Bryant, on his 80th birth-day, are so appropriate that I 
venture to quote them. He says : 

"A very good history of mankind might be made by 
the study of vases ; since these vessels, perhaps more 
than other works of art, show the utilities, tastes and 
fancies of the various ages of the human race. In 
their simplest and rudest forms, they seem to have been 
the first lispings of the art spirit among men ; and 
while the hollowed hand, the egg shell, the nut, and the 
gourd, may have suggested the form, the plastic clay, 
which unbidden takes the shape of the foot, and hardeny 
it in the sunshine, furnished the material of the primi- 
tive pottery, which is found among the remains of abo- 
riginal tribes. The great nations that have won such 
name, and left such monuments in sculpture and archi- 
tecture, have not despised these lesser forms of art ; and 
the vases of Egypt, Greece, Rome and Italy, seem to 
have been a kind of compend of all artistic work, and 
to have abridged into a microcosm the talents and the 
lessons that were presented only on a grander scale in 
statues and temples, bass-reliefs and paintings. The 
household life of nations is illustrated with special full- 
ness and minuteness by vases ; and as they are seen to 
best effect by a near view, so do they express truly the 
near aspects of society, and perpetuate family traditions 
and affections." Subscribing fully to the truth of tliese 
remarks of Mr. Osgood, what an interesting object does 
this beautiful vase become ! Bearing in mind that when 
found it was filled with human bones, how it stands be- 
fore us as the treasure-house of family affections, of 
tenderness long extinquished, as the cherished receptacle 
of all that remained of some loved wife, husband, father, 
mother, sister, brother or child, ages upon ages ago ; 
and how it compels our sympathy for a race, the last 
scion of which has, in all probability, disappeared from 
the face of the earth. Bearing in mind that this vase 
may have lain in the ground for more than a thousand 



> 76 Tmkaloosay 

years, and yet stands before us as perfect as the day it 
was made, with its three colors in the ornamental work 
distinctly visible of red, yellow and purple, all worked 
into the clay, and that these have not faded a particle 
during the 36 years the vase has been in my posession, 
nor has the material crumbled away, we are compelled 
to see that this is a higher work of art than has been 
produced by any of the Indian tribes of which we have 
any knowledge. Looking, then, at the scientific skill 
displayed by the mound-builders, in the breast-works 
visible at Carthage ; that there is a distinct ancient road- 
way perceptible, through the woods from Carthage by 
air-line to the Alabama river in the direction of Cahaw- 
ba, and looking at this vase, and the other works of art 
which I have described, I have come to the conclusion 
that at some remote age in the past this country was in- 
habited by a people considerably advanced in civilzation, 
long before its discovery by Europeans, and that the y 
doubtless had some connection with the South Ameri- 
can races. Prescott (vol. 1, p. 143) says : "The an- 
cient Mexicans made utensils of earthenware, for the 
ordmary purposes of domestic Hfe, that were beauti- 
ful ; also cups and vases of laquered or painted wood, 
impervious to wet and gaudily colored. Their dyes 
were obtained from both mineral and vegetable sub- 
stances, among them the rich crimson of the cochineal, 
the modern rival of the famed Tyrian purple ;" and this 
vase represents these colors distinctly to be seen. 

INDIAN IDOL OR IMAGE. 

Here, also, is another specimen of sculpture. It is 
the image of a man in a kneeling attitude, which very 
much resembles those found by Stephens in Central 
America. It is a kind of iron sand-stone The arms» 
legs, eyes, nose, and mouth are all distinctly visible, but 
it lacks the artistic skill manifest in those described 
above. On the head are five marks or gashes. The 
carving is rude, and I am inclined to think it is the 
work of the Indians found here in these latter days. It 



The Origin of its Name^ its History^ etc. 77 

was plowed up on the plantation of Mr. Jas. Dodds 
(about 35 years ago), about 6 miles from town, near the 
mouth of Big Creek. Whether this was an idol, or 
was chisseled out in memory of some chief, who died 
in such an attitude, receiving five cuis on the head, of 
course we can only conjecture. 

INDIAN GRAVES AT BLACK WARRIOR TOWN. 

One of the Indian relics, nearest the city, is the site 
of Black Warrior Town itself, something less than a 
mile below our wharf, on the left back of the river. — 
On the first of May last, I walked all over it with a 
gentleman, who, in childhood, had used it as a play- 
ground, not many years after the Indians had left it — 
Mr. Marcus P. Brown, then on a visit from Grand 
Rapids, Michigan. Mr. Brown pointed out where he 
had gathered immense quantities of Indian arrow-heads, 
and hatchets made of flint, and where he used to play 
at "Indian grinding corn," as a boy, with the rude 
stones then still upon the ground, with which the In- 
dians had done their grinding. Here a great battle was 
fought by the Creeks and Choctaws, about 1812 or 1813. 
The latter tribe being friendly with the United States, 
by strategy attracted the Creeks from the shelter of 
their fort to dispute the passage of the river, while an- 
other party of Choctaws, who had stealthily already 
crossed the river, got possession of the fort, and utterly 
destroyed the settlement, killing all except those who 
fled to the swamps below the town. Thus Mrs. 
Crawley was avenged, and when Col. Crocket, in 1813, 
as part of Col. Coffee's command, came to destroy the 
town, it was found to be entirely deserted by the In- 
dians. There are still some small mounds visible where 
Black Warrior Town stood, but whether one of them 
may be the grave of the old chief 0-ce-oche-motla, 
whom Mr. Gaines saw last in 1811 (when he wanted 
credit for one or two ''old hundreds'') at the opening of the 
war, of course cannot be told, but I find no record that 
he was heard of after his visit to Mr. Gaines with his 
fleet of canoes. 



78 Twtkaloosa^ 

THE ALABAMA STONE. 

Until 69 years ago, there was no reason to suppose, 
from history or tradition, that DeSoto or any of his fol- 
lowers had visited the falls of Tuskaloosa. At that 
time, however, a relic was discovered (evidently left 
here by the Spaniards) which presumptively connects 
this locality with his expedition, and which excited and 
interested the new settlement to a considerable degree. 
This was the finding of the so-called ^'Alabama Stone," 
six miles down the river, and in the vicinity of the 
place where the stone idol, or image, was found. This 
stone has now been for over 50 years in possession of 
the "American Antiquarian Society," in their Museum at 
Worcester, Massachusets. 1 am indebted to Prof. Wy- 
man, of the University of Alabama, for a history of 
this relic, who, after much labor and research, has re- 
cently obtained a truthful account of its discovery, and 
of its present place of deposit, and it is from his mem- 
oranda that I make the following condensed statement : 

He says that when he was a youth at college, 25 
years ago, he remembers Prof. F. A. P. Barnard (now 
Dr. Barnard, President of Columbia College, New 
York), speak of this stone as having been found near 
Tuskaloosa, and that it had excited the interest of Amer- 
ican antiquarians, as being possibly a singular memorial 
of DeSoto's march through the wilderness. Being 
young at the time, he took no special interest in the 
statement, but in the last few years he has made diligent 
enquiry, and found, from the memory of the Hon, 
Washington Moody and others, that such a stone had 
been discovered, and that it had been sent to some mu- 
seum in the United States, many years ago, and all 
trace of it seemed to be lost. At a venture, however, 
he wrote to the Secretary of the American Antiquarian 
Society, at Worcester, (Mass.,) and in reply, found it 
had been in their museum over fifty years, and that a 
brief account in writing had accompanied it, stating 
that it had been found somewhere on the banks of the 
Warrior river, and the Secretary, Mr. Haven, was kind 



The Origin of its Barnes its History, etc. 79 

enough to send the following description of it: "The 
Alabama stone is a wedge-shaped slab of sandstone, 
about three feet in length, two feet wide at one end, 
and 18 inches at the other. Cut into its face is the fol- 
lowing inscription: HISP-ET-IND-REX— 1232. An 
abreviation of the ancient title, in Latin, of the sove- 
reigns of Spain. HispanicE et India Rex — or 'King of 
Spain and the Indies' — found on Spanish and old Span- 
ish American dollars. Mr. Haven is inclined to think 
(and he is good authority among the most eminent of 
American antiquarians) that this stone is a genuine rel- 
ic of Spanish occupancy, at some time in the remote 
past of our territory. Prof Wyman having thus found 
the where-abouts of the stone, and its description, by 
constant and diligent enquiry, next set about, among 
the oldest settlers of the county, to learn something of 
its original discovery, and fortunately (not long before 
the death of one of the parties who found it) was en- 
tirely and satisfactorily successful, as I will now proceed 
to show. In 1817, Mr. Thos. Scales, a worthy citizen 
of the neighborhood, when a boy, removed with his 
father from North Alabama to the new settlement at 
Tuskaloosa falls. The first work they did was to clear 
a piece of ground, on the north bank of the river, six 
miles from our wharf, just below the mouth of Big 
Creek. In clearing away the timber, they found an 
earth-work or embankment, in the nature of a fortifica- 
tion, which ran across the peninsula formed by the junc- 
tion of the creek and the river. This embankment was 
about four feet high, and on the top of it, all the way 
across from river to creek, were growing the largest 
trees of the forest. At the foot of one of these (a large 
tulip tree, which stood on the very top of the embank- 
ment) they found a stone set up against the tree, with 
the lower end of the stone half buried in the soil. On 
the stone they discovered some curious letters, which 
being in Latin, they could not understand; and this, 
Mr. Scales said, induced his father to take the stone up 



80 TiMkaloosa^ 

to the settlement at the falls, now the town of Tuska- 
loosa, where it stood for a long time near to 'Squire 
Powell's office, a subject of constant speculation for the 
curious. He remembered particularly (as he stood 
around it when a boy) to have heard the people say 
that the inscription upon the stone was precisely the 
same as that upon the old Spanish dollar. 

The above account of its discovery was taken direct- 
ly from the lips of Mr. Scales by Prof. Wyman, not 
long before the old gentleman's death, and there are 
scores of us in the community who knew him well, and 
believe every word he said about it to be the truth. He 
also knew that the stone disappeared from Tuskaloosa 
about half a century ago, and he understood some anti- 
quarian gentleman had sent it North, but he never 
knew precisely to what point it had been sent. As to 
the date upon the stone (1232), if it is a date, the theory 
of the writer is, that the whole of the inscription had 
been copied from an old Spanish dollar, by a portion of 
DeSoto's men, who had been sent out in various directions 
searching for gold, as all the authorities mention was 
done, and one party doubtless had found their way 
along the head waters of the Warrior river, and that they 
had found it necessary to fortify themselves against the 
savages at this point, and before leaving, had copied 
from an old dollar in their posession the inscription upon 
it, as a memorial of their visit. That they had such 
old coins with them is evident, from the statement of 
Mr Hudgins, who had one in possession found not far 
from Valley Head, bearing the date of 1114. 

HOW TUSKALOOSA BECAME THE CITY OF OAKS. 

And now, gentlemen of the Alabama Historical So- 
ciety, I have obeyed your behests to the best of my 
ability, and have feebly but faithfully chronicled all the 
events that I thought would give interest to this occa- 
sion. I can think of but one thing omitted, which I 
have hesitated to name because of its small .importance 
to the world at large. It was, however, of some im- 



The Origin of its Mame, its History, etc. 81 

portance to the writer, and is to this audience on this 
occasion, since without the happening of that event (at 
sometime) we could not have been here to-night dis- 
cussing these histories of the past. 

On New Year's Day, 1837, the writer made his ad- 
vent here from across the "big water.'' He found here 
a live settlement, that, like himself, was just 21 years of 
age. A bright, youthful city, full of life and activity, 
who met him with her arms wide open, inviting him to 
cast his lot with her for life. Her smiles being seduc- 
tive, her blandishments complete, the union was consum- 
mated, and he soon had obtained a settled home in 
your midst. Around that home occurred a small event, 
which gives him the only claim he pretends to have 
even to Tuskaloosa immortality, and for which he thinks 
posterity should thank him. It was around that home 
where the unsightly china trees scattered annually their 
unwholesome fi'uit, that the thought occurred to him to 
supplant them by the beautiful water-oaks of the forest, 
which some of his neighbors (E. Cooper, Jas. Hogan 
and W. H. Price) had successfully transplanted. He 
not only did this, but for the length of a block, planted 
the first central row of trees in the streets, and induced 
the authorities to plant three such rows in every street 
of the city. The result is, that now (after 34 years of 
growth), when they have embowered our daily walk 
with an ever- green parasol, the ^' Druid City,''' or "7%e 
City of Oaks,-^ has attained a fairly-won reputatioa as 
the most beautiful in the land. 

THE PEDAGOGUE. 

I have now given the history of Tuskaloosa as far as I 
know it, the origin of its name, and the authorities there- 
for. It only now remains that I should (in some 
sense) assume the office of Pedagogue, and give my 
views as to the proper method of spelling it, about 
which there is a diversity of custom. In doing this, I 
do not know that I have much to add to what I had the 
temerity to say through the public papers some two 



82 Tkiskaloosa, 

years ago. In June, 1874, some gentleman having pub- 
lished a card, giving eight reasons, why every body should 
come to Tuskaloosa and nobody leave it, the thought 
occurred to me to give also eight reasons why Tuska- 
loosa shoud bt universally spelled with a k. The article 
and reasons were as follows : 

EIGHT REASONS WHY TUSKALOOSA SHOULD BE SPELLED 
WITH A K. 

lu these latter days, it has become customary for some parties 
to spell Tuskaloosa with a c instead of with a k. The latter be- 
ing the legal method, I venture to give some reasons why it is 
only strictly right to use that method : 

Ist — Tuskaloosa is an Indian name, derived from a people who 

had no written language, and the reason seems conclusive? 

that we should spell it as they pronounced it. The Indiaas 

always use a guttural sound. They would say Tusj^a Loosa^ 

or Luza, the hard sound of Ic fully expressing it, and not the 

soft sound of c. 

2d — It is the legal way of spelling it. The act of Congress, "to 

enable the people of Alabama Territory to form a State govern. 

ment, and for the admission of such State into the Union on 

an equal footing with the original States, spelled it with a Ic 

3d — The constitution of the State spelled it with a k. 

4th — The acts of the Legislature apportioning Senators and 

Representatives spell it with a k. 
5th — The original charterof the city of Tuskaloosa spells it with 

a k. 
6th — The charter establishing the old Bank of the State spelled 

it with a k. Its notes the same. 
7th — The first indictment in the county for a felony spelled it 
with a c, and objection was raised by the defense that the in- 
dictment was not good, inasmuch as there was no such coun- 
ty in Alabama as Tuskaloosa spelled with a c y that this was 
Tuskaloosa county, spelled with a k. This objection was only 
overruled finally on the ground of ^Hdom sonans''' — i. e. be- 
cause the sound was the same. 
8th — It is important that custom should conform to what has 
been fixed by law. T. M. 

The above eight reasons were published in June. 1874. 



The Origin of its Name, its History, etc. 83 

and if I were called upon to add a ninth thereto, it 
would simply be to say — 9th, The King Bee's Dream 
spells it with sl k ; and 10th, the Tuskidoosa Gazette 
spells it with a k; and 11th, the First National Bank of 
Tuskaloosa spells it with b. k ; and 12th, the most dis- 
tinguished geologist that ever had his home in our 
midst,the lamented Professor Tuomey,spelled it with a k. 

We have already noted that the "Red Man's friend" 
at St. Stephens, the official representative of the United 
States, who from 1805 was specially appointed to carry 
out the humane policy of Washington, of justice and 
fair dealing with the Indian tribes, and whose long resi- 
dence, and intercouse with their great chiefs Mingo- 
homo-Sfubbee, the wit, Mingo- Puck- Shennubbee, the mod- 
est, and Push-mat ta-ha, the statesman ; Indians of pow- 
er and distinction, who had not only been the jruests of, 
but had been honored with the friendship of Washing- 
ton — this grand old gentleman, who had these oppor- 
tunities, a quarter of a century before the University of 
Alabama had an existence, together with his own pecu- 
liar fitness as a chaste and accurate linguist to guide 
him — the honored Geo. S. Gaines, spelled Tuskaloosa 
with a k. 

That honored and distinguished Divine, also — the 
Rev. Bazil Manly, for a quarter of a century President 
of the University of Alabama — by precept and exam- 
ple did his utmost to prevent this modern encroachment 
of the c. He not only spelled Tuskaloosa with a k, but 
enjoined it on his children to do the same, and all who 
knew him, knew also that he was the last man to be 
without a reason for any faith that was in him. We 
have also seen that, but for the 'Hdom sonans'^ decision, 
of one of the earliest judges of the county, a culprit 
would have escaped. We can hardly conceive of the 
confusion that might have resulted from this modern 
inundation of the C into legal documents but for this 
timely decision. 

Since writing the above. I am in receipt of a letter 



84 Tuskaloosa^ 

from Rev. H. F. Buckner, who for a large portion of 
his life has been living a missionary among the Creek 
Indians, author ol the Maskoke, or Creek Grammar, 
who sustains the position assumed that Tuskaloosa 
should be spelled with a A;, saying "that Tuskaloosa is 
the Choctaw for Black Warrior, and that there should 
be no c in the orthography." 

Some 38 years ago, this whole matter was thorough- 
ly discussed in the Ciceronian club of Tuskaloosa, at a 
time when there was a galaxy of talent in its member- 
ship, such as but few towns of its size could boast. — 
Among its members were enrolled the gifted Alex. B. 
Meek, Wm. R. Smith, F. A. P. Barnard, Alex. M. Rob- 
inson, Philander LaVergy, Parker, Cone, Conway, Hunt- 
ington, N. L. Whitfield, and others — names that would 
be distinguished, and deservedly so, in any country and 
around any college, for their varied abilities and acquire- 
ments. 

Mr. Meek took ground in favor of spelling with a c, 
as he admitted to the writer, mainly because it was 
more easily and flowingly written with the pen, but the 
club was largely in favor of spelling it with a k. 

Much stress has been laid on the fact that the Span- 
ish writers who first mention Tuskaloosa spell it with a 
c. This argument might be conclusive, if it could not 
be shown that they did so under compulsion, and our 
distinguished law professor, Prof. Somerville, will tell 
you that in law no man is held accountable for what he 
cannot help. The argument falls to the ground at once 
when it is stated that the Spaniards were compelled 
to use the letter c, as the nearest approach to the sound 
of k their language would permit, which has not the 
letter A: in it. But for us, an English-speaking people, with 
the University, and the colossus of English literature in 
our midst, who have this letter k in our alphabet, which 
BO fully represents the guttural sound Tuska of the In- 
dian, to ignore its use because of the poverty of an- 
other's alphabet would be (it seems to me) to abandon 



The Origin of its Name, its History, etc. 85 

the rich -patrimony of our ancestors, in our mother 
tongue, and uselessly to follow Garcilaso in his 
poverty, by permiting to be introduced into the very 
centre of our beautiful Tuskaloosa, a wide and open C, 
where certainly no such C belongs. 

And now, gentlemen of the Alabama Historical So- 
ciety, if this paper, written at your instance, should 
prove the means of rescuing from approaching oblivion 
any event of interest or importance in the history of 
Tuskaloosa, (notwithstanding he may have wearied you), 
the writer will be amply repaid. In retiring from be- 
fore this audience, however, he admits that his latter 
days would be more serene if he could be assured that 
by his efforts on this occasion our oak-embowered Tus- 
kaloosa, like another glorious Venice, had been redeemed 
from the C. 

Then he might depart in peace, and as the last 
shadows of the "Druid City," the adopted home of his 
early manhood, whose classic stream and groves he has 
loved so well, shall peacefully fade away from his vision, 
then with expiring breath he would sing — - 

BEAUTIFUL TUSKALOOSA. 
She sits, like a bride in her youthful dream, 
With her feet submerged in the Warrior's stream, 
Where the rippling spray and the Mock-bird's song. 
Unite in a chorus the whole night loug, 
And the moon-lit Falls, with an endless roar, 
Cast silver pearls in her lap on the shore. 

She stands on a hill, like a beacon bright, 

With her classic halls, and her cultured light. 

Inviting the youth and the daughters fair, 

To come from the plains to a purer air, 

And drink at the fount of Knowledge and Truth, 

The lessons and lore which enoble youth. 

She sleeps on the plain, where the Oak and Pine, 
With arms interlock'd, their branches combine 



Tushaloosa^ 

To symbol the worth of that trustful love, . 
Which, cherished aright, descends from above ; 
And she breathes pure air, from breezes which blow 
From mountains above to the prairies below. 

She boasts of a name of euphnous sound, 
Which reminds her sons of that sacred ground, 
Thermopylae's shrine— the Red Man's pride ! 
Where the black-plumed chief like a hero died, 
To teach her youth that a patriot's strife 
In honor but ends with a nation's life. 

On ebony-bed, with an iron band, 

She waits but the touch of the magic wand 

Of labor, to bring her resources forth. 

And spread rich blessings over South and North ; 

When these shall have birth, her treasures unfurled, 

Her mission complete, is to warm a world. 




